Powell County High School Superintendent Mike Doyle was interrupted during Friday by community members who were pleased with the search that lead to the arrests of four high school students. People in the community, both those with students and without, have given us nothing but positive responses. The dog's perusal was prompted by the Northwest Montana Drug Task Force, which for the past eight months has been tracing the sale of marijuana, methamphetamine, LSD and psilocybin in Deer Lodge. Using informants, the task force bought drugs from nine people, eight of whom have been arrested and four of whom were high school students. Doyle said the locker search policy has been in place at the high school for five years and at the junior high for four.
Dogs come into the schools at random about once a year.
Students and parents are required to sign a letter at the beginning of the year stating that they read the student handbook which explains the policy. Junior high students are tested on the conduct policies, including drug searches. The dogs are trained to pick up traces of alcohol, drugs, tobacco and firearms. DuVall Junior High Principal Pat Rogers said the dog sniffed the rows of lockers and the students' backpacks. Afterward, the school had an assembly explaining what happened.