MONROE - How much information was floating around before Tuesday's lockdown and drug search of Monroe High School and the Monroe Alternative Charter School depends on whom you ask: School administrators say the drug sweep was intended to be a surprise, while some students maintain they knew it was coming.
According to several comments posted on The Monroe Times Web site, themonroetimes.com, MHS students knew the drug sweep was coming Tuesday morning, but charter school students did not.
"The macs (sic) students were not informed that this was gonna happen the normal high school knew about this ahead of time," one anonymous poster wrote.
Monroe police, with the help of sheriff's departments from Green, Lafayette and Grant counties, used K-9 police dog units to search the high school and charter school. The dogs searched the MHS lockers and had several "hits" but no drugs were found.
One arrest was made as the result of drugs found in a vehicle at the charter school. Joseph A. Lartz, 18, Browntown, a student at the school, will be charged with possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.
The searches were intended to be a surprise, Superintendent Larry Brown said this morning.
"I don't know what the students knew," he said, but the information was supposed to have been confidential. He even told the school board, which knew the search was planned at some point this spring, that "they wouldn't know until after it happened."
The schools were in lockdown mode during the search but students were not informed that drill was coming either, Brown said.
MHS Principal Mark Burandt said today his staff was informed that a lockdown drill in conjunction with the police department would happen at some point, but they were not told the time or date, nor did they know what the police's role was in the lockdown or what would be involved.
Online comments also included some criticisms of the district for not searching the MHS parking lot as it did at the charter school.
Monroe Police Chief Fred Kelley said Tuesday afternoon that school administrators requested police search cars at the charter school, but did not make the same request for the high school. Kelley said a parking search at the high school would be logistically difficult.
Brown said his impression was that drug dogs can only work for so long before they get fatigued, and so the search at MHS was limited to student lockers.
Several Web site posts also criticized the district for not conducting drug searches on a more regular basis. Lockdown drills have been held more frequently, Brown said.
Brown, who came to the district as superintendent last summer, said he is in favor of more frequent drug searches.
"I was very much in favor of doing it," he said of Tuesday's search. "It's a good practice. It sends the message to the student body and the community that we are concerned about drugs being on campus."
According to several comments posted on The Monroe Times Web site, themonroetimes.com, MHS students knew the drug sweep was coming Tuesday morning, but charter school students did not.
"The macs (sic) students were not informed that this was gonna happen the normal high school knew about this ahead of time," one anonymous poster wrote.
Monroe police, with the help of sheriff's departments from Green, Lafayette and Grant counties, used K-9 police dog units to search the high school and charter school. The dogs searched the MHS lockers and had several "hits" but no drugs were found.
One arrest was made as the result of drugs found in a vehicle at the charter school. Joseph A. Lartz, 18, Browntown, a student at the school, will be charged with possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.
The searches were intended to be a surprise, Superintendent Larry Brown said this morning.
"I don't know what the students knew," he said, but the information was supposed to have been confidential. He even told the school board, which knew the search was planned at some point this spring, that "they wouldn't know until after it happened."
The schools were in lockdown mode during the search but students were not informed that drill was coming either, Brown said.
MHS Principal Mark Burandt said today his staff was informed that a lockdown drill in conjunction with the police department would happen at some point, but they were not told the time or date, nor did they know what the police's role was in the lockdown or what would be involved.
Online comments also included some criticisms of the district for not searching the MHS parking lot as it did at the charter school.
Monroe Police Chief Fred Kelley said Tuesday afternoon that school administrators requested police search cars at the charter school, but did not make the same request for the high school. Kelley said a parking search at the high school would be logistically difficult.
Brown said his impression was that drug dogs can only work for so long before they get fatigued, and so the search at MHS was limited to student lockers.
Several Web site posts also criticized the district for not conducting drug searches on a more regular basis. Lockdown drills have been held more frequently, Brown said.
Brown, who came to the district as superintendent last summer, said he is in favor of more frequent drug searches.
"I was very much in favor of doing it," he said of Tuesday's search. "It's a good practice. It sends the message to the student body and the community that we are concerned about drugs being on campus."