Dear Goshen Schools families,
This morning, at the request of district officials, the Village of Goshen Police Department, with assistance from the New York State Police, conducted a routine drug detection sweep at Goshen High School and C. J. Hooker Middle School.
The district purposely did not notify families or employees about the sweeps until they concluded, as per the direction of our local police enforcement.
Police officers and detection dogs were at each building for approximately 45-60 minutes to search multiple classrooms that were selected at random. No students, staff or faculty were present while the searches were being conducted. If any individuals were in one of the randomly chosen classrooms, they were instructed to leave their belongings and exit the room, under the guidance of building administrators, before the search began.
Please note that if a detection dog notified an officer of an indication of narcotics during the sweep, the officers turned over the item in question to building administrators. The police did not search through personal belongings.
During the sweep, students and teachers were instructed to “hold-in-place” – to remain in their classroom and continue with regular instruction to help minimize any disruptions to the academic process.
Prior to the sweep at C. J. Hooker Middle School, two students required medical attention after ingesting unknown substances. The students indicated that they ingested these substances before the start of school. The students were transported to the hospital via ambulance and are recovering; the Village of Goshen Police is investigating these incidents in collaboration with the building level administration. Please note that the drug detection dogs were not deployed in response to these incidents; the sweep was scheduled in advance with the Village of Goshen Police Department. Learn more about the CJH incidents.
Any infractions will be addressed by district administrators according to the Code of Conduct and the District’s legal team. Thank you for your support as we work to address substance abuse in our schools.
Dr. Kurtis Kotes
Superintendent of Schools
