By Rod Hansen
Staff Writer

A police search of students’ lockers at John Stark Regional High School failed to turn up any evidence of drugs or other illegal contraband, police said.

The search, which took place on Thursday, April 13, used drug-sniffing dogs from Sunapee, Moultonborough and Gilford, according to a police statement.

“It’s a random preventative measure,” said Bob Peterson, the school’s community resource officer.

“The idea is to use it as a deterrent. The faculty sent out community-wide letter to all parents, and the response we got to the idea was overwhelmingly positive,” Peterson said.

The school went into lockdown drill for the duration of the searches, which began at 10 a.m. Although students knew there would be random drug searches, they did not know when the searches would occur, Peterson said.

The John Stark School Board voted last November to allow random searches by drugsniffing dogs at the high school.

The searches are among several measures being taken to sway students away from drugs, with other deterrents including a wellness education program, a peer leadership program and a Students Against Destructive Decisions group.

School drug policy also includes a mandatory 20-day suspension for students caught using drugs and a “zero tolerance” policy for students participating in extracurricular activities.

Students reacted well both to the drug searches and to the overall concept during an assembly at the high school at 1:30 that afternoon following the searches, Peterson said.

“My impression was that the students could not have responded any better,” Peterson said. “They reacted well to the search, and they applauded the idea at the assembly.”

Although high schools are often branded as sites of drug activity, Peterson said there have been “only a handful” of legitimate drug complaints this year.

He could not divulge the nature of those reports because some of the investigations are ongoing.