Only One Arrest After Canine Searches of Geneva Middle Schools, High School

Geneva police Cmdr. Julie Nash said one arrest resulted from Tuesday's canine sweep of both Geneva middle schools and Geneva High School.

If you're a parent of a Geneva student, that has to come as good news.

If you're the parent of the high school student who was arrested for drug paraphernalia, it probably was not.

Geneva police arrested a 16-year-old white male on one count of possession of drug paraphernalia. Because the student is 16 years old and charged as a juvenile, his name is not released in police reports.

There were no arrests made and no drugs reportedly found at either middle school.

Parents and guardians of middle school students were notified of the canine search in e-mails from District 304 Connects.

and signed the e-mails letters, which were dated May 17 and appear to be identical, except for the signature and contact information at the bottom.

Bleau's e-mail arrived in in-boxes at 3:37 a.m. Wednesday, Bidlack's arrived on Tuesday, the day of the search.

The letters read as follows:

"No one wants to think that children in middle school could be involved in at-risk behaviors. Unfortunately, the reality is that there are some students in early adolescence who are involved in substance use/abuse. As educators we believe that schools need to do everything possible to provide a safe learning environment for our students.

"As a result, we are taking a more proactive approach to keeping drugs out of our school.  Our intent is to send a strong message to the school community: We will not tolerate drugs being brought into our schools. Schools are a place of learning where we promote positive behaviors and where students should feel safe. We cherish our students and want nothing short of the best for them.

"In order to effectively address this problem, we periodically conduct unannounced searches of our building using drug dogs. Today we conducted a search of both middle schools in partnership with the Geneva Police Department and other law enforcement agencies.

"Highly trained professionals conducted the search during the school day. They were done safely and efficiently without disrupting our normal learning environment.

"It is important to note that the dogs had no contact with students at any time.  The searches were conducted in accordance with Geneva School District Policy Number 5771.

"The safety and well-being of our students is our primary concern. I want to thank you in advance for your support in keeping our schools drug free."