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On Thursday my lovely wife, Christine McKown, gave a good, impassioned and speech about drug searches of students in public schools to the state Board of Education. The board was on its regular tour of the islands, meeting at Hilo High. The  board wants to use dogs to search students and to search without cause. If you're unfamiliar with the issue, try here, here, and especially here.

"Krisy," as most people know my wife, was interviewed after she spoke by Hawaii Tribune-Herald reporter Bret Yeager and she eagerly checked the papers Friday and Saturday but alas, no story about the BOE meeting at all, much less anything about what she said. I suggested that it's such good stuff they're waiting till Sunday's big-circulation edition. She said they probably threw it out.

Anyway, I liked it and she got good feedback from many who heard it -- the board itself didn't seem happy with her -- so I'm posting it here.

Thank you for this opportunity to speak before the Board of Education and everyone present. I come before you today to speak as a Hilo High School parent regarding the welfare of ALL students attending public school in the State of Hawaii. I do not underestimate the actions of the Board of Education and the importance of those actions in the lives of Hawaii’s youth.
I understand the board is making an attempt to improve the drug abuse situation among our children. I am aware that drug addiction is a widespread and serious problem not only in our schools but among people of all ages within our community. With that in mind I will address an issue which disturbs me greatly, and that is the committee’s recent vote in favor of a new set of rules regarding the code of conduct and ethics within public schools, specifically the introduction of certain methods which will be carried out with or without cause. These methods include drug sniffing dogs, searches of personal property, search and removal of clothing including pants and the intrusion of privacy into correspondence outside of school.
I do realize the board has struggled at length with these rules. I am not here to criticize your actions. Instead, I would like to propose to the board a proven method of handling the drug abuse problem. A method that will not violate the rights of any student, a method that will not breed distrust, a method that does not place the board, the state and school employees in a position to be sued and a method that has proven positive results. That method is EDUCATION. Yes, EDUCATION, the very essence of this board’s existence. I implore you to institute an educational process within our schools to teach students the realities of drug addiction. Drug addiction is insidious, destructive to mind and body and can ultimately be fatal. We can no longer hide the physical and psychologicalrealities of drug addiction from our children. It is the responsibility of our schools to educate students and therefore give them the foundation to make an informed decision. Drug addiction is no exception to this education. It is essential that we proceed with a method that is not harmful. EDUCATION is that method.
I understand that the public school system has attempted to educate students about drug addiction but their attempts have been unsuccessful because they have not made evident the realities of drug addiction. We need comprehensive, real life experience voiced by people whose lives have been destroyed by drug addiction, people who our children can relate to, people who have experienced the awful downward spiral and ruination of their lives due to drug addiction. We need to provide students with people to talk to who are not looking to punish them, but to help them.
What we DO NOT need are fear tactics, search and seizure violations, privacy violations, threats of drug sniffing dogs, harrasment and strip searches. Research does not indicate that these methods are effective. The reality is that these methods are both abusive and illegal.
There is a precedent within our legal system regarding search and seizure and privacy rights of students, a case taken all the way to the Supreme Court, that case is the State of New Jersey versus TLO. Please take the time to research this case and the related Hawaii Supreme Court case. Also, look at the Hawaii State Constitution, which unlike any other state, includes a special search and seizure clause in regards to cause, before you enact a flawed code. In regards to abuse, instilling fear and removing clothing are, without question, psychologically and physically abusive tactics.
We can not teach our children the US and State of Hawaii constitution while simultaneously violating those very laws on which our nation is based. When we do this we are undermining the very foundation of trust we have worked so hard to build. Our students already face far too many obstacles in their efforts to become educated and to reach their life goals. This new code, if enacted, will become yet another obstacle for them in their struggle for confidence, independence, knowledge and success.
If your true desire as a board member is to better the Hawaii State public school system and in so doing better the lives of each student, then you must look deep within yourself and muster the courage to vote against the new proposed code. Ignore the voices who say “You are soft on drugs if you vote no.” and listen to the voice of reason that I sincerely hope lies within each of you.
I implore you, please, if you have previously voted in favor of the new code of ethics and conduct, reconsider your vote.

Christine McKown
Sept. 20, 2007