BY CARSON ARNOLD

STAR INTERN

Members of the Elizabethton City School Board approved several items during their regular meeting Tuesday night including measures involving the contract for the director of schools and an agreement regarding contraband detecting dogs.

The board voted to approve the visitation of trained canines to T.A. Dugger Junior High School and Elizabethton High School as part of an agreement between Interquest Detection Canines and the school system. The canines are training to smell drugs, firearms, pills and alcohol.

The dogs will go into classrooms and search lockers and cars, but will refrain from searching students or visitors according to Gardenhour. The visits will provide minimal interruptions, as the schools will not have to enter a lockdown status while the dogs are present. They will spend about an hour searching each school.

“It’s not what you expect,” said Gardenhour. “It’s what you inspect.”

Under the terms of the agreement, the school system will pay Interquest $3,000 to provide 10 half-day visits to the schools between August 2017 and May 2018. According to information provided by the school system, Interquest is licensed and registered with the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the Texas Department of Public Safety, and the Texas Commission on Private Security.

In other business, the board voted to allow Booher to begin negotiations regarding Gardenhour’s contract and whether it will be extended. The Board is currently in the second year of a four-year contract with Gardenhour. With the current contract in place, the maximum the Board can extend its contract with Gardenhour would be two years. During a recent workshop session, Board members offered unanimous praise for Gardenhour and his performance.

The next school board meeting will be held Tuesday, August 15, at 6:30 p.m. in the Mack Pierce Board Room at the school system’s central office, located at 804 S. Watagua Avenue.