student searches ppt., william allan kritsonis, phd, professor

8/8/2019 Student Searches PPT., William Allan Kritsonis, PhD, Professor

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Are They Legal in Public Schools?

William Allan Kritsonis, PhD



"[t]he right of the people to be secure in theirpersons, houses, papers, and effects, againstunreasonable searches and seizures, shall not

be violated...." This was the amendment that protected people

from unreasonable search and seizures,including public school students.



T.L.O. and a friend were accused of violatingschool rules by smoking cigarettes in a schoollavatory, the latter, who admitted to smoking,

was not brought to the office for a search. TheSupreme Court of New Jersey decreed that thesearch of T.L.O.'s purse violated the FourthAmendment. On appeal, in New Jersey v. T.L.O.,the Supreme Court reversed in favor of theState of New Jersey (Russo).

This was the case that laid the basic principlesfor student searches.



School officials must establish reasonable causefor believing that the student is violating or hasviolated a student rule or a law.

They must make sure that the searchconducted is reasonable in scope in light of theage and sex of the student and the nature of theoffense.



A school official may search the person of a student if the school official hasreasonable

grounds to believe that the student is in possession of contraband.

Search of the person shall be limited to the student's pockets, any object in thestudent's

possession such as a purse, briefcase or backpack, and/or a "pat down" of the exteriorof the

student's clothing.

Searches of the person shall be conducted out of the presence of other students andas

privately as possible. At least one, but not more than three additional persons of the

same sexas the student being searched shall witness but not participate in the search.

The parent/guardian of any student searched shall be notified of the search assoon as

reasonably possible.



A locker search is simply the act of opening a locker and looking through itscontents. Depending on the state,

administration may choose to search one,several or all lockers. The search maybegin when a drug dog indicates that theremay be some contraband such as drugs inthe locker, when a student reports concernof what another student may have in hislocker, or when the administration calls fora random search.



Sniffer dogs can be used if they are sufficientlyreliable to indicate reasonable suspicion thatcontraband is present.

Horton v. Goose Creek the court establishedthat dogs could sniff students' cars and lockers,but could not sniff the students themselves fordrugs.



In 1978 the Goose Creek Independent School District inTexas brought in drug-sniffing dogs in an attempt to dealwith a rampant drug and alcohol problem. The dogs weretrained to detect more than 60 different controlled and over-

the-counter substances. On an unannounced and randombasis, dogs were taken to all of the schools in the district tosniff the students' lockers and cars and were brought intothe classrooms to sniff the students themselves. If a dogindicated that a car or locker had an illegal substance, thestudent was required to open the locker or vehicle for a

search. If the dog indicated a student was carrying an illegalsubstance, he or she was brought into the school office to besearched.



Due to the personal intrusiveness of a drug testit is looked upon as a search.

Students athletes are subject to random drugtests.

Vernonia School District v. Acton was the caselaw that laid down the guidelines for drug

testing.



The Student Activities Drug Testing Policyimplemented by Pottawatomie County SchoolDistrict requires all students who participate in

competitive extracurricular activities to submitto drug testing. This policy reasonably servesthe school district's important interest indetecting and preventing drug use among its

students, therefore the court held it asconstitutional.



These devices are permissible in schools forstudent searches.

These devices are also used doing extra-

curricular activities.

Students and parents must be notified thatrandom student searches will occur.



Student searches are permissible as long asstudents· Fourth Amendment rights are notviolated.

Parents and students should be aware ofrandom searches through the student code ofconduct.

School officials have a responsibility to keepsafe and secure environments for students andfalculty.

student searches ppt., william allan kritsonis, phd, professor

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