Drug dog visits school

ST. REGIS – The St. Regis Schools came away from a recent search of the premises by a canine trained to locate illegal narcotics with flying colors as Principal Joe Steele reported the dog found nothing improper on the grounds.

The dog and its handler visited the schools last Thursday, Oct. 2, and were on the school grounds for approximately an hour. Steele said the search was a result of a direct request from him to local law enforcement entities. He said the conversation started with Mineral County Sheriff-elect Tom Bauer, but it was actually a Forest Service canine that conducted the search.

“There happened to be a dog in the area doing some training,” Steele said. “We started with the high school. We brought the dog through here to check the locker areas and the commons areas. There was no interruption to the instructional day.”

Steele said the purpose of bringing the canine narcotics unit in to search was to act as a deterrent. He said, in his experience, when the student body is aware a dog could come through at any time, people change their behavior and everyone is safer as a result.

“One of the things I found when I came here is there hadn’t been that presence in a while,” Steele said. “I wanted to create that presence because our schools are drug free zones. It makes the school a safer environment for everyone. One way to do that is to bring the dog through to let everyone know we are serious.”

Steele said the fact that no drugs were found says a lot about the caliber of student that attends the St. Regis School District. He also said it wouldn’t be the last time the dog would pay a visit.

“I want them here as often as possible,” Steele said. “It is an effective deterrent. If they drive their cars to school, we will have the dog go over those. Once you are on school property, we don’t tolerate that (narcotic possession). But the fact that we didn’t find anything tells me we have great kids here.”

In his first year as St. Regis Principal, Steele said he delivered a message to the student body during an assembly at the beginning of the school year. He said maintaining a drug free school was vital to following through on his message.

“I told them we want to accomplish three things this year,” Steele said. “We want to work hard. We want to help each other and we want to have fun. Part of that is keeping our school a safe environment so kids want to be here and they know they will be supported in their academic goals. Drugs get in the way of that so having the dog here supports those kids who are drug free.”