By Kevin Jefferies
Commerce – The Commerce School Board voted last night to enter negotiations with the City of Commerce for canine detection services for primarily Commerce Middle and Commerce High School. CISD currently spends over $11,000 per year for drug dog services with funds from the Safe and Drug Free Schools Act. The dogs come out to the schools about twelve times a month to inspect student vehicles and lockers and the officer controlling the dog also conducts visual searches of the vehicles. The canines are trained to alert on firearms, as well as illegal drugs.
The City of Commerce would need to purchase a trained dog before being able to enter into the agreement. That would cost around $8,500. This would be an expense CISD would take on the first year of any contract with the city. However, Superintendent Keith Boles said that each subsequent year would bring significant savings to the schools.