Breaking News: Drug search places school on administrative hold

At approximately 11:50 a.m. on Dec. 5, Principal Brett Bowers came over the PA at Homestead High School to announce that a non-emergency administrative hold had been placed on the building. He asked that students find their classrooms and remain in them until the hold was over.

Students waited in their classrooms in order to continue their learning during the administrative hold. “I didn’t know what was going on or why we were on administrative hold. With those things, we never really know. We just continued class as usual,” Natalie Ceelen, senior, said.

Around 20 minutes later, Bowers came back on the PA to release the administrative hold. He then revealed that five classrooms were searched by a canine unit..

Bowers later sent an email to parents/guardians regarding this event, specifying that, “Area police officers and a trained canine searched several classrooms earlier today.  This event was scheduled and did not occur in response to any specific situation or circumstance here at school.”

The goal of the search was to, “promote a safe and healthy school environment,” Bowers wrote.

In order to give a clearer picture of what happens during a drug search by a canine unit, Bowers explained the process in the letter: “In a classroom search, students are escorted out of that location, leaving behind backpacks, purses, and other personal belongings to be included in the search. The only classrooms that were affected were those that were searched, a process that takes only a few minutes per room.”

The results were that,  “the canine did not hit on any personal belongings during the search” according to Bowers.