Schools often try to force students to give school administrators passwords to their social media accounts. A student successfully sued her school after being forced to log into her Facebook account in the principal`s office. In that case, S.S. v. Minnewaska Area School District (Minnesota District Court, 2012), the school had to pay damages and revise its social media privacy policy. YES, as long as the students you are looking for are randomly selected. For example, your school may place a metal detector at the front door so that all students can pass. A patrol search is one of the most invasive searches at school and is often conducted illegally. In Safford Unified School District v.
Redding (U.S. Supreme Court, 2009), eighth-grader Savana Redding, was raided by school officials because another student said she may have hidden ibuprofen in her underwear, in violation of school policies. Savana continued his school and NYRA joined an amicus curiae letter in his defense. The court noted that patrol searches are “categorically different” and must meet stricter requirements than other searches due to the deeper intrusion into the student`s privacy. For such a search to be authorized, it must be proven that dangerous or illegal objects are hidden in it. Suspicious patrol searches are almost always illegal, and schools can pay high severance packages for breaking the rules. School officials only need reasonable suspicion that a crime has been committed before searching a student`s personal belongings. In the landmark case of New Jersey v. T.L.O. (U.S.
Supreme Court, 1985), the court held that school administrators do not need to have a search warrant or probable reason before conducting a search because students at school have a lower expectation of privacy. The meaning of a search may depend on what the head of the school is looking for. A search of a student`s person or property is a “reasonable suspicion” when a school official has objective and artificial grounds to suspect that the search provides evidence that the student is breaking the law or a school rule. For example, reasonable suspicion is established when the school official sees drug paraphernalia or alcohol, or when the school official observes physical factors that indicate poisoning, such as blurred words, glassy eyes, or the smell of alcohol or drugs. YES, but only under certain circumstances. First, your school must have a “reasonable suspicion” that your search provides evidence that you broke a school rule or law. Second, the way your school conducts its research should be “reasonable” based on what is being researched and your age. At school, searches are often conducted by teachers, administrators, student resource officers or police officers.
In some cases, courts have held that school officials conducting a search based on information provided by the School Resource Commissioner are acting as police officers and are therefore subject to the higher standard of probable cause, as in State of New Hampshire v. Heirtzler (Supreme Court of New Hampshire, 2000). When school police officers search students at the request of the school administration, they are sometimes authorized by law to search only on reasonable suspicion rather than obtain a search warrant based on probable reason, as in Wisconsin v. Angelia D.B. (Wisconsin Supreme Court of Wisconsin, 1997). Anything that is illegal or prohibited by school policy, whether it is a firearm, illegal drugs or alcohol, or a prohibited cell phone, can be confiscated and searched. Nevertheless, state laws may impose additional restrictions on searching. Additionally, according to Maine law, if the student is in a detention center, their parent or guardian must be contacted before police can question them about the crimes they believe the student has committed.
The parents must either be with you during the interrogation or accept that the police can interrogate you without them being there. In general, any object considered to be the property of the school may be searched without notifying the student or parents. School staff may also allow the police to look in your locker or office, even if you use it. Schools may have a policy in this regard and must be made available to students upon request. Still, there are restrictions on schools that search students` properties. For example, in Burnham v. West (Eastern District Court of Virginia, 1987), the court found that the smell of marijuana in the lobby was not a sufficient reason to search the bags, purses and bags of all students. However, it should be noted that if an object or object is in sight, a teacher may take or search it without reasonable suspicion. For this reason, some schools have required students to use only clear backpacks so that their belongings can be seen. Schools also seriously violated students` right to privacy by filming students without their knowledge as they changed in a locker room.
Because students have a reasonable expectation of privacy in locker rooms, such searches are considered illegal, as in Brannum v. Overton County School Board (Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, 2008). In general, the more intrusive a search is, the more evidence is needed to justify it. This essentially means that the school must have a stronger reason for a search of your body than for a search of your property and they must have a stronger reason for searching your belongings than for searching your locker. School staff have the right to interview students. Maine law says nothing about whether the school should contact your parents first. The school district may have a policy that talks about it. Check the school`s website or call the administrative office to see if there is a policy. The sex of the child and the gender of the staff searching the child, Although schools need reasonable suspicion to distinguish a student with a metal detector, they are allowed to search the school grounds with a metal detector or randomly select students with a metal detector for no reason.
A metal detector search is often considered a body search, but it is also considered minimally intrusive. Courts have upheld the use of metal detectors in schools and other locations such as courthouses and airports. Generally, students are in a detention center when they are with the police and cannot walk. If the police question the student when he is not free to leave, this is called a “detention interrogation”. There are two factors to consider: In recent years, NYRA and other civil rights groups have fought for students` rights by challenging cell phone searches that were unjustified, as in the case of Boca Raton Community High School. For many years, it was the high school`s policy to search students` confiscated text messages, photos, emails and cell phone voicemails during classes. Through the efforts of the NYRA chapter in southeast Florida, the school changed its cell phone policy; Mobile phone searches can only be carried out if there is reasonable suspicion. AS A GENERAL RULE, NO. Your school is only allowed to conduct random testing of students participating in extracurricular activities. Your school cannot force you to take a drug test in other circumstances. Through our network of chapters, we help students launch a campaign, raise awareness and change school policy.
In Vernonia v. Acton (U.S. Supreme Court, 1995), the Supreme Court ruled that random drug testing of high school athletes did not violate the proper search and seizure clause of the Fourth Amendment. In Board of Education v. Earls (U.S. Supreme Court, 2002), the Supreme Court upheld the policy of drug testing in student activities in the Tecumseh School District in Oklahoma, stating that the policy requiring all students participating in competitive extracurricular activities to be tested for drugs was useful for the school district to detect and prevent drug use. However, students are required to undergo a drug test for no likely reason. These tests also tend to give false positives.
The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees “the right of the people to be free from improper search and seizure of their person, home, paper, and personal effects.” This right generally requires school officials to have reasonable cause before searching or seizing a person or their property. In 1985, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Fourth Amendment applies to students in public schools, but concluded that the right is curtailed in a school setting. Schools do not need a warrant or even “probable cause” before searching a student. Instead, the standard for student searches is “reasonable suspicion.” The use of drug detector dogs on private property or to extend traffic stops requires reasonable suspicion. However, because students at school have “no reasonable expectation of privacy,” random searches by drug-sniffing dogs are legal in schools. The legal standards for palpation at school are unclear, especially since many researches called palpations are actually partial research.