Canine inspections of the Avonworth school buildings and grounds were discussed at the Avonworth school board’s work session on Sept. 7. Superintendent Dr. Valerie McDonald told the board that there were issues raised with regard to visits from trained dogs used to locate drugs and other illegal substances that may be present on school property.

These visits occur four times each school year. While some of the Avonworth staff believe that these visits are valuable as a deterrent to students bringing illegal substances to school, McDonald said that others believe that some changes should be made to the canine inspections.

According to officials, the dogs sometimes mistakenly "find" drugs or other contraband when none are actually present. They noted that false "finds" sometimes occur in lockers in which illegal substances have been found in the past. McDonald said that these locations were known to the canine units, and students currently assigned those lockers were not investigated if a dog selected their lockers.

The consensus of the board was that the inspections should continue without change so long as locations where prior finds had been made were known and taken into account.