{"id":41004,"date":"2013-07-31T15:59:53","date_gmt":"2013-07-31T22:59:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theavtimes.com\/?p=41004"},"modified":"2013-07-31T18:54:26","modified_gmt":"2013-08-01T01:54:26","slug":"guidance-charter-school-introduces-new-k-9-unit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2013\/07\/31\/guidance-charter-school-introduces-new-k-9-unit\/","title":{"rendered":"Guidance Charter School introduces new K-9 unit"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Two-year-old<\/a>
Two-year-old German Shepard Rita (shown with two of her four handlers) is the newest member of The Guidance Charter School staff.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

PALMDALE \u2013 The Guidance Charter School held a press conference Wednesday morning to introduce the community to its newest full-time staff member, Rita.<\/p>\n

The two-year-old German Shepard will provide an added level of security at the school\u2019s 7-12 campus of about 300 students. When school starts on August 12, Rita will be sniffing the east Palmdale campus for drugs and weapons to identify and deter any possible attacks, said Executive Director Kamal Al-Khatib.<\/p>\n

\"Rita<\/a>
Rita sniffed out packages of various drugs at Wednesday’s press conference.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI want the public to know that this school is going to be the safest school in the nation,\u201d Al-Khatib said, adding that The Guidance Charter School is the first charter school in the nation to purchase its own K-9 unit.<\/p>\n

Al-Khatib said a K-9 unit on campus is the school\u2019s response to the increase in violent incidents on school and university campuses across the nation. He said he began pursuing the idea in earnest after a seventh grader was accused of using and bringing marijuana onto the school\u2019s campus.<\/p>\n

When school officials searched the student\u2019s classroom and could not find any evidence of drugs, Al-Khatib said he turned to the sheriff\u2019s department\u2019s K-9 unit. He discovered that the process required a lead time of up to three weeks and cost around $150 an hour.<\/p>\n

\"Rita<\/a>
Rita will be stationed in a car in front of the school each morning, “as a sign of security.”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI said, \u2018You know what? I\u2019m going to get my own unit,\u201d Al-Khatib said.<\/p>\n

The school was able to secure a grant from its insurance company to fund the new K-9 school safety initiative, Al-Khatib said. Rita came from Adlerhorst International, Inc., a police K-9 training camp in Riverside County; the dog has been in training for six weeks, Al-Khatib said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe dog itself cost us $10,400, but the program, so far, cost us $25,000,\u201d Al-Khatib said.<\/p>\n

When school starts, Rita will be reporting to work every school day like the rest of the staff. In the mornings, she\u2019ll be stationed in a car out front, right where the students are dropped off, as a \u201csign of security,\u201d Al-Khatib said.<\/p>\n

\"Al-Khatib<\/a>
Al-Khatib speaks at a press conference to introduce the school’s new K-9 unit.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He stressed that the dog is not aggressive and does not present a threat to students or staff. The dog will only search in areas where no students are present, Al-Khatib added.<\/p>\n

Rita demonstrated her expertise at Wednesday\u2019s press conference. The dog was able to quickly locate MDMA, marijuana, cocaine and heroin packages, which were placed in the bushes by her handlers.<\/p>\n

The new K-9 unit will deter possible criminal activity at The Guidance Charter School, according to Palmdale Sheriff\u2019s Station Captain Don Ford.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust the fact that they know that the dog is there will deter a lot of people from bringing in any [drugs and weapons] on the campus,\u201d Ford said. \u201cThat\u2019s what we want for the kids here, is to be able to come here and feel safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to send a very powerful message, to all who choose to come to this campus, that there is a zero tolerance policy that\u2019s not only spoken but enforced,\u201d said Palmdale City Councilmember Tom Lackey.<\/p>\n

California State Assemblyman Steve Fox said the new K-9 unit will improve the education process, as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe teachers can\u2019t teach and the students can\u2019t learn unless they feel safe,\u201d Fox said. \u201cBy Kamal bringing on this K-9 unit, this makes this one of the safest places, which means one of the best education processes in the state will take place right here.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Guidance Charter School\u2019s K-9 unit will be available to conduct drugs and weapons searches at other schools and outside agencies at a billable rate of $100 per hour, with a three-hour minimum, Al-Khatib said.<\/p>\n

For more information on this new initiative, contact The Guidance Charter School at 661-285-1600.<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PALMDALE \u2013 The Guidance Charter School held a press conference Wednesday morning to introduce the community to its newest full-time staff member, Rita. The two-year-old German Shepard will provide an added level of security at the school\u2019s 7-12 campus of about 300 students. When school starts on August 12, Rita will be sniffing the east […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":41005,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[29,11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41004"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41004"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41004\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}