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Drug scan turns up empty at Rogue River schools By Vicki Guarino of the Mail Tribune ROGUE RIVER -- School district officials thought they ran drug-free schools. Now they can be more certain. An Oregon State Police officer and a drug-detecting dog made an unannounced but long-anticipated sweep of Rogue River High School on Wednesday and found nothing. Plans for the search were approved a year ago. In addition, two searches at Rogue River Middle School, one last winter and the other a few weeks ago, also turned up nothing. "I think those results are significant," Rogue River schools Superintendent Charles Hellman said Friday. "I'd say the results confirmed our beliefs. "We are very pleased." The police dog surveillances were initiated a year ago at the suggestion of Oregon State Police. The department offered the search service to many schools in the Southern Oregon region as a way to stop drugs and violence that police associate with the drug trade. Some administrators turned down the offer. Central Point officials, for example, said their anti-drug efforts were part of a district-wide citizenship and discipline program that emphasizes student accountability, responsibility and trust. They said searches would undermine that sense of trust -- and, ultimately, their ability to work with students. Medford officials had similar concerns. In Rogue River, however, officials viewed the searches as a valuable addition to antidrug efforts. The police presence underscores the importance officials place on drugfree schools. Hellman said there has been little public comment since the district approved the searches, but what he has heard has been favorable. "Some parents said they were very glad," Hellman said. School property only is examined in the searches. Over the course of about a half hour, Hellman said, an officer and dog walk along rows of lockers and various common areas. Classrooms and offices are not searched, neither are staff or students. The searches are conducted during class periods, when corridors are empty and the search causes little disruption. Hellman noted that the procedure has been described to students, and they watched a drug-detecting dog demonstrate its ability. The searches are random, conducted as state police have time. Although schools have come up clean, Hellman said, the district plans to continue in the police program. "We'll do it periodically," he said, "depending on the availability of the officer and the dog, to reassure ourselves that we continue to have a drug-free campus." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA