Eldred school district holds unannounced search for drugs

By TOM KANE

GLEN SPEY — The Eldred Central School (ECS) District conducted its first unannounced search for drugs and other contraband in the high school last Thursday during the school day.

Students left the building under the pretext of a fire drill while three state troopers and three trained dogs searched the student lockers.

“Nothing was found,” said ECS Superintendent Candace Mazur.

Mazur said the practice would be repeated from time to time and would be unannounced.

ECS Board of Education Vice President, Andrew Boyar, who chaired the meeting in the absence of its president, Marsha Hunter, said, “This is being done as a precaution and is not because of any frequent incidents of drug use in the school.”

However, a parent who did not wish to be identified said that parents have learned from their children that there are drugs in the school.

“I think the search is a good thing,” she said. “It’s good that the students are aware that drugs will not be tolerated in the school and that legal action will be taken against anyone who brings them in.”

In other board business, a student representative of the junior class, Kristen Borstelmann, asked if the board had decided to cancel a senior trip next year and she presented a petition signed by 32 juniors protesting any cessation of such a trip. There are 66 juniors in the class. Students said they only had two days to collect the signatures.

Boyar answered that the board had not made a decision yet and that the students’ opinions would be considered in making its judgement.

“We are looking into appropriate alternatives to a senior trip largely because of the liability to the school if something went wrong,” he said.

After the meeting, students admitted that there had been some disciplinary problems in past senior trips.

Borstelmann said that the class would plan its own trip during the spring break independent of the school if such a policy were adopted.