I cannot believe, CANNOT BELIEVE that people are allowing this to happen. I just found out yesterday that drug sniffing dogs are going to become a part of the Sag Harbor School District and that drug sniffing dogs are going to be present on campus. The reason is to combat drugs and alcohol in school.
I want to go on record that I am completely 100 percent against this idea. This is a horrible, horrible, horrible idea.
What are we, living in freaking North Korea?
How about we bring in a tank and men armed with M-16s into the school also to combat the fighting problem? How about mandatory strip searches? And metal detectors—let’s bring those into the school, too! After all, you never know what kids might be bringing into the school. You just can’t trust these rotten, good for nothing kids who just do drugs, drink alcohol, get into fights and worse.
GROW UP, SAG HARBOR! THIS IS AMERICA!!!
I really am furious about this. This is the East End of Long Island. Since when do we need K-9 units patrolling a small high school? Since when?
Am I the only one on this? Am I the only one that doesn’t want kids in his community feeling like they are going to school inside of a prison? Am I the only one that doesn’t like my privacy being violated? Am I the only one that doesn’t like overkill when it comes to our schools?
We have got to stop not giving so many people so little credit. I’ve been to Pierson on numerous occasions because my half-sister graduated from that school. I’ve interviewed the field hockey coach there. This school is one of the most well run, friendliest, wonderful high schools I’ve ever seen. It’s filled with smiling kids, kids who care about their friends and their futures and their families. I can remember being at a fundraiser where the entire school showed up to help raise money for a family that had a child with cancer.
We just don’t need this kind of mentality arising in any of our communities. We don’t need it. We need the opposite. We need people to trust one another, know one another, and pay attention to the bad apples and to get them to learn something.
What we don’t need is a police state at our high schools. We need a learning state.
Yes, filled with smiling kids because a significant percent of them are stoned . Possibly when the “kids” stop smoking crack and getting wrecked drug sniffing dogs will not be necessary. How do we pay attention to the bad apples unless we know who they are?
“I really am furious about this. This is the East End of Long Island. Since when do we need K-9 units patrolling a small high school? Since when?”.
Get real…since a large percentage of the kids began to use drugs. Do you think they would not have decided to use dogs unless there is a major problem already? Do you want your child to be interacting with other kids who are carrying drugs in school?
Right….because when you were a kid, everything was perfect.
Do I want kids exposed to other kids who are doing drugs? Of course I don’t. What kind of a ridiculous question is that?
I don’t want kids exposed to kids who cut class either…so maybe we should require all students to be handcuffed to their desks to prevent that from happening.
The focus needs to be about teaching kids being responsible for themselves and helping them decide for themselves that drugs are bad. I’m all for more education and more assemblies/classes about the dangers of drugs and alcohol. I’m not in favor of turning our schools into prisons.
Maybe kids should be responsible enough to learn all their coursework with out having to go to school at all!
If there’s a problem, something needs to be done. The kids who are the problem need to be held accountable for their ILLEGAL actions. Federal law and many state and local laws increase penalties for drug-related activities in drug-free school zones.
One way or another these kids will end up in prison, let it happen before they pressure other kids into getting hooked!!
Totally with you on this one Dave. The moron who commented that it was a good .idea must not have kids.I mean even BOCES doesn’t do that and those are the at risk kids. If they do this what’s to stop them from infringing on our children’s other basic rights? This is a terrible message we give our kids too, making them think that just because they are teenagers we automatically don’t trust them. I raised my son right and I trust that he will make the right decisions. And what are the Pierson parents saying.
David, I respect you but I feel you are living in a cloud. You might want to hear all the facts as to why Pierson is considering this before casting your opinion to your thousands of readers painting Sag Harbor in a negative light. It might be helpful for you to send one of your writers to a board meeting or contact anyone at the school. The superintendent, the BOE and the Administration are always available to speak to the media. Contact them and get all the facts before passing judgement.
David,
It is truly startling and sad how naive and pompous you are.
Kelly, it’s truly sad how naive and condescending you are. But thanks for joining the conversation with a personal attack.
David,
You have one thing right in this poorly dramatic, fact-less article. We do have one of the most well run, friendliest, wonderful high schools ever. It is filled with smiling kids, kids who care about their friends and their futures and their families. I find it hard to believe that there are people out there who have the opinion that because we are a small school, in the “Hamptons”, that the kids would never think to touch a drug or drink alcohol. Common sense tells us that teenager’s are going to experiment. This is going to ensure that they leave the drugs at home. Where hopefully their parent’s will find them and have a real conversation with them, but if not, they will be caught and helped before they fall deeper. Our kids are precious, and having dogs come into the school, not interacting by the way, with the kids, to keep them and the rest safe, what’s the harm in that? I have two smart, wonderful, well behaved almost teenagers, who have great well behaved friends, but if you think that for one minute I believe they would never lie or hide something from me, your wrong. I don’t see a problem with the dogs, and I’m sure they won’t look like the ridiculous picture you posted with this article for drama’s sake.
Dogs won’t interact with kids? What will they do? Just sniff their own butts?
Oh, ok, I get it now, your joking. I can’t debate with you, because you haven’t done your research. I thought maybe you would have checked your facts before publishing. It take’s away from you as a journalist, and from the paper you publish in. I find it offensive that you would joke about a subject that is important to the parents of Sag Harbor. Until you have facts, publishing nonsense is irresponsible.
Ann, I don’t understand you when you say I need to get my facts straight and that I am joking. My post is stating that I am against drug sniffing dogs at Pierson because I do not think it will solve any problems and it will make the school feel more like a prison than a school. I’m not joking about this. I feel very strongly about this. And I did do my research on it, and there are a lot of parents that agree with me.
which Parents David…Are those the same parents that have issues with school starting at 725am so that the district can save over 150K per year, are those the same parents that think there are only 3 kids that do drugs in the school. Have you even taken the opportunity to speak with anyone at the school? You are entitled to your opinion, but do you have kids in this school, because if you don’t don’t cast judgement. There are a small group of parents that oppose this and guess what many of them do not have kids in the Middle/high school yet. So I want to know which parents are you referring to. I would not even make the time to respond to this, but I feel I must because you are tainting Sag Harbor and I will not stand for it. I love this school district. Get your facts together and get the whole story before reporting, your readers have a right to hear all the facts and not just your slanted opinion.
What’s really funny about this is that it’s not drugs that are the problem, it’s the drinking. Maybe we should get a dog that will sniff out some beer? Might be fun to confiscate that if you are a teacher, its not like any of those people are alcoholics!
Release the hounds…
While I feel drug sniffing dogs is a bit heavy handed for any school the size of Pierson my guess is the administration and staff got tired of trying to talk to parents who continually say “not my son/daughter”. This problem all begins with parenting and used to end there – now it’s become a community problem. Now the schools have to try and do the work that parents used to do. I know that 32 years ago when I was in high school (three village school district – much larger class number) the “smoke shack” out back for “cigarette smokers” was FULL of kids openly smoking joints – I didn’t join in because I was brought up NOT to do that sort of thing… so I didn’t, not than and not in school. No dog sniffing needed, my parents were all over that. On the other hand I knew kids who’s parents were also all over it who still smoked, took pills and drank in school – most of them have gone onto be successful adults – a few were lost tragically along the way – do I think drug sniffing dogs would have helped? No.
Without knowing how much this is costing I can’t really comment much more – but I would have much rather seen additional guidance counselors, drug educators and human staff working on this issue than drug sniffing dogs – perhaps they were just cheaper.
Too much mindless chatter here from David and from those who argue against him. Let the dogs do their job and shut your pie holes. Come see me after your teen gets in a car wreck, kills someone or worse, gets killed herself. Come see me when your teen gets arrested and taken away in handcuffs and you need to pay a criminal defense attorney to get the charge reduced. Come see me after they pick your teen up off the street with an eye dropper because he thought he could fly and jumped off the roof of the school, come see me when you rush to the hospital only to see your teen in a convulsive episode and three orderlies trying to hold her down. Yeah, let the dogs do their job.
http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2012/02/09/marijuana-nearly-doubles-risk-of-collisions/?hpt=hp_t3
I don’t get it, the dogs are just going to sniff the lockers. Doesn’t that mean the kids will just keep the drugs in their pockets or cars? What’s the point other than to intimidate?
Sounds like Pete wants the dogs to parent the kids… finding drugs on kids in school will NOT stop them from doing drugs – if they are bold enough to bring them to school they are doing it at home, at their friends and anywhere they can.
Pete, first off what kind of stuff did you take when you were in high school? Last I checked marijuana never made anyone think they could fly, and anyone stupid enough to drive under the influence is probably a stupid person by nature and is likely to get in an accident regardless. Secondly I am not a parent or a full fledged adult yet. I never went to pierson but i have many many friends from there, all great people. The fact of the matter is that one of the reason people from my generation are so attracted to drugs is the danger surrounding it. A few years ago I was fed all the same stuff that you are feeding your kids today, and do you know what my friends and I thought? We thought we wanted to see for ourselves, and do you know what we found? We found that we had been lied to. We had been lied to about the supposed negative affects of drugs such as marijuana and that the reality is most of the laws surrounding them were put into place mainly because of racism and extremely narrow minded thinking. The key to getting kids not to do drugs is to be honest with them. Teach them how to be responsible, how to be good people, how to learn when its ok to use marijuana or alcohol, and how to do it safely. What I have found in my youth is that kids are resourceful. Much more resourceful than you think, they will always find a way to break the rules. If you need proof of this just look at the act of dipping tampons in alcohol….Sending drug dogs to pierson will do nothing but make your kids even more resentful of you, authority, education, and frankly more willing to try new drugs like coke, heroin, etc. The issue you should all really be focusing on is how much sexual activity is going on at pierson. The kids are starting really young now.
I don’t think that most people are aware of the scope of the problem. If it were just pot and a few beers I would agree with David… but it is not the case. There has been everything in Sag Harbor from heroin and meth to crack and psycidelics. For such a small school to have such a big problem is the real issue. Since it seems the parents are in denile someone has to do something. Drugs are only a portion of the issues that I have seen. Students injure themselves (cutting) and each other, and more. All the stupid things that kids do with cell phones are being done. The good the bad etc. The school is basically good but with too many rotten eggs. There are some great kids that need alot of help. When both parents are working full time they may try but they DO NOT KNOW what thier kids are doing. This is an unfortunate by-product of the economy. Accept the dog, it is better than the police and Children’s Services getting involved.
David, Clearly you lack insight and were not gifted in the brain cell department.
Possibly we should also take the Police off the roads and streets so that the general populace can feel free to do whatever they please. Society, including The small town HS in Sag Harbor, has clearly changed enough to elicit the proposal to check the school for drugs on the premises. In contradiction to your ignorant words, I would think it would be comforting for any parent to know that the institution that her/his child is attending will be free of drugs to a high degree. I am quite sure that the only children in the school who will feel intimidated by the presence of drug dogs will be the ones who do the drugs themselves.. The others are certainly bright and insightful enough to know this, and I am sure will feel protected and cared for, as opposed to insulted or intimidated. Give them some credit for having some intelligence and the capacity to comprehend the current situation. Would you enjoy knowing that in your workplace a certain % of the workers is carrying crack?
Well said, John M.
and to anonymous; we should probably remove all TSA employees, Federal Marshals, and FBI from our airports and planes; hell, terrorists are terrorists and if they don’t do it on a plane they’ll find somewhere else. Fact is my friend, we are protecting the innocent, same as we are doing with the dogs at Pierson. Additionally my ignorant friend, there’s a lot more than marijuana in the hallways or are you just wishfully thinking. Fortunately I didn’t feed my kids the stuff you were fed. They were educated from the age of 8 and made their own choices. By the way, their school also had a metal detector. Last and certainly not least, drugs are illegal and their are penalties to pay for breaking the law. Once you have worked as a doctor in the ER then come to me and tell me authority shouldn’t apply stricter measures and enforce the law. Sounds to me you resent authority and are on a dangerous path.
Kids will be kids and terrorists will be terrorists but not on my plan and not in my school.
Pete what are you talking about? I never said anything about taking TSA or terrorism. That is a completely irrelevant statement, and does nothing but show how ignorant you are on the subject. What does a metal detector have to do with anything? I’m all about not bringing bombs on planes or weapons in school, which trust me you would all be surprised about how much that happens(the weapons I mean). You were in the ER, you saw the worst of the worst, the stupidest of the stupidest, those kids would’ve probably messed their lives up sooner or later regardless of drugs. I do not resent authority, but I do resent unjust authority. The laws surrounding marijuana were based entirely on fear, racism, and greed. If the case is that there are harder drugs at pierson by all means do what you will, but is someone who gets caught with a minuscule amount of marijuana going to be treated the same as someone caught with cocaine or heroin? Are we ok with a persons life being dramatically altered because of a little bit of grass? Something that has been basically legalized in several states. None of you are from my generation, none of you really understand how we think. In my opinion all that will happen from this is that people will become more reckless and potentially switch to drugs without a scent, trust me there are dozens, and the scary thing is most of them are legal. Hell kids might just start drinking even more, if you thought a few lazy stoners were bad just wait till alcoholism becomes a trend.
Furthermore Pete, your condescending tone and the flow of your argument shows me that you clearly have no idea what you’re talking about, probably have little to no world experience, and are afraid of things that you do not understand.
Well I guess you told me. Anonymous whoever you are. Next time let us know who you are instead of hiding behind your momma’s apron. You are truly ignorant, but I suppose in your case that’s 9/10 of the law. What you don’t know you’re not responsible for, are you? Condescending tone? wow, you’ ain’t seen nothing yet. From your generation? Which one is that, The generation of entitlement?
Bring on the dogs….
Pete not only have you shown me that you clearly have some type of cognitive impairment, but you have yet to disprove a single one of my points. I am anonymous because I am protecting my identity and reputation from ignorant, close minded, and frankly hypocritical people such as yourself. This is no longer an argument about the subject of the matter, you try to disprove me by using slander and insults, which does nothing but show how truly ignorant you are, and that you know nothing about people my age, or even how to have a logical debate. Haha 9/10 of what law? You should learn how to write and state you’re point properly before denouncing other peoples intelligence.
As a Sag Harbor parent with kids in the high school, this strikes me as the dumbest and most repellant tactic. You mean to tell me that the administrators and teachers don’t know who the problem kids are, that they need dogs to tell them. They can search school property without listening to some dog.
People – We like to keep our site an open forum for people to discuss the articles, we actually encourage it.
However please refrain from personal insults or comments that are not directly related to the article or attacks on other people.
Thank you