A vote is scheduled this Thursday to add such a device, referred to as a wand, as an option during searches. The public may comment on this proposal early in the meeting scheduled for 7 p.m. in the large group instruction room of the Fowler building of Carlisle High School.
Under the policy change, the wand can only be used in specific situations when administrators have a reasonable suspicion that a student is hiding contraband on their person.
If the wand detects an item, the student will be asked to produce it. If the student refuses, the presumption can be made that the student possesses contraband and can be disciplined for both possession of contraband and insubordination.
Michael Black, district director of secondary operations, briefed the board last week on the rationale behind this proposal. He said the change is connected to the use of vaping paraphernalia by Carlisle High School students.
“Only a few weeks ago, some staff members overheard students walking out of the school,” Black said. “They were talking about vapes and things of that nature. They said the easiest thing to do is just put it in your underwear or in your bra and they (school officials) won’t find it.”
Usually, when there is suspicion, the student is called to the office to meet with the building principal. A hall monitor or school police officer may also be in attendance.
“It’s a conversation with the student,” said Black, a former high school principal. “We ask the student ‘Do you have anything that you’re not allowed to have with you?’ A lot of times, the student is honest, and they will say yes, take it out of their hip pocket or their bookbag. Other times, they don’t necessarily answer. At that point, we go through a search process.”
That process could include a pat-down of the student along with a search of the bookbag. Depending on the situation, school administrators may also phone a parent or guardian.
The policy change would allow administrators to use a wand as an option of last resort, Black told the board. “This is not something we plan to utilize every time we have to bring a kid to the office for a reasonable suspicion.”
Board member David Miller recommended that the wand be used instead of the pat-down as a less intrusive method of detecting contraband. “To me, that would minimize discomfort all around,” Miller said.
Superintendent Colleen Friend said the order in which a method is used would be more of an administrative guideline than a directive in a board policy. She said the district employs both male and female principals and police officers at its schools.
“The policy is overarching,” board vice president Anne Lauritzen said. “There are internal procedures that actually dictate how that is carried out.”
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