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Trustees to consider drug-sniffing dogs, single-sex PE

BY TARA McLAUGHLIN, Californian staff writer
e-mail: tmclaughlin@bakersfield.com | Friday, Feb 29 2008 6:22 PM

Last Updated: Friday, Feb 29 2008 6:22 PM

The Kern High School District is poised to decide Monday if schools will be subjected to random searches by drug-sniffing dogs and whether it can implement voluntary single-sex P.E. classes.

Trustee Ken Mettler proposed the plans in January.

Dogs: KHSD expels 500 students for drug-related issues each year, Mettler said, a problem for which he’s willing to shell out $55,000 a year.

The state pays districts based on attendance, so if dogs kept eight students in school, the program would pay for itself, he said.

P.E.: Federal law Title IX requires coed classes, so single-sex gym must be voluntary. Mettler said the option would encourage healthy activity for those who may not perform their best in coed classes.

The proposal would allow individual schools to implement the classes if they use current staffing.

In other action, the five-man board will vote on a third Mettler proposal to extend pre-employment physicals and drug screening to all teachers and staff, costing about $50,000 a year.

The board will also take up Trustee Joel Heinrichs’ proposal to explore ways to bolster the district’s career technical programs via night or summer classes and potentially expanding to a career tech-focused high school.