It is now official: The Kern High School District will deploy narcotic sniffing dogs to the high school campuses at the end of February.

This has been a hot topic of discussion for many parents, staff and students of the KHSD. “I think they should be on every school campus,” said Olivia Stripling, parent of a student.

The policy was approved by the KHSD board members on Oct. 6 of last year. The budget for this program was estimated to be somewhere around $55,000, but the dogs are going to be a free courtesy of the Bakersfield Probation Department.

After this bill passed, there was a flow of mixed emotions between parents and students. “It’s crazy, but I’m kind of glad,” said April LaPerre, mother of a student.

Several different questions have come up about the safety of the students because of the dogs. According to John Teves, KHSD public safety officer, the dogs will be nowhere near the students. “It defeats the whole purpose of the dogs if they aren’t sniffing out the kids,” said LaPerre.

The dogs are going to be sniffing out lockers, parts of the school and classrooms. Safety is one of the main priorities of KHSD, and that is why the dogs are not going to be in direct contact with the students.

The board of trustees believe that this program will help the rising incline of dropouts to decrease to a lower percentage than what it is now. According to the statistics put out last year by KHSD, there were 500 expulsions due to drugs on campuses.

There hasn’t been a direct link to any particular event that led up to these dogs being put on campus. “This city has a rising drug problem, and it has been deemed necessary for safety purposes,” said Teves.

Some students do not really have any feeling toward this subject. Some of them really feel like it’s not that big of a deal if you’re not the one doing it. “They’re just trying to keep it at least out of the schools, but if you’re smart, you won’t bring it with you,” said Matt Rivas, a KHSD student.

“I really don’t care; it doesn’t affect me. I’m not that stupid to bring anything like that,” said Dustin Stripling, KHSD student.

A few students, though, do see the use of drug-sniffing dogs on campus as a bigger issue because it’s an invasion of rights.”They have no right to be going through our stuff at all; it’s our stuff and not theirs!” said Amber Amos, KHSD student.