Second and third hour went slightly off schedule Wednesday morning, Sept. 21.

In the middle of second hour, an intercom announcement told faculty to check their staff emails. The email asked teachers to not allow any students to leave their classrooms until further notice.

Then, just before the 10:00 a.m. bell was supposed to ring to dismiss students to their third hour, another intercom announcement asked that teachers continue to keep students in their second hour classrooms despite second hour ending.

While students were held in their second hour classes police performed a canine drug search inside the school and in the parking lot. Three dogs searched inside while three dogs searched the parking lot, according to Mr. Charles Crouther, head principal.

“Of course, when you get that type of dog, the German Shepherds, that are trained to look for narcotics,” Mr. Crouther said. “They look like they’re nice dogs but sometimes they overreact a little bit towards people other than their handlers.”

About three minutes after the second passing period bell would have sounded, a third intercom announcement dismissed students to their third hour.

“With those dogs still being in the building around the passing period from second hour to third hour, we decided to stop the bells and keep everybody in their classrooms until all the dogs had exited and it was safe for the students to be in the hallway getting to their next class.” Mr. Crouther said.

During the drug search, canines searched through hallways and inside cars for drugs.

“I do know that one assistant principal was still questioning a student and checking out a vehicle,” Mr. Crouther said. “Other than that, I do not know of anything officially at this time.”

Students had noticed police cars in the front of the building as well as fire trucks in the back. The police cars belonged to the canine officers who conducted the drug search, while the fire trucks were unrelated.

This story will be updated as we learn more about the drug search.