The Controversy Of Searching A Student's Bag

According to the National Education Association, at least 100,000 students bring guns to school, 160,000 students skip classes because they fear physical harm, 40 students are killed or hurt by firearms, nearly 6,250 teachers are threatened with bodily injury, and 260 teachers are physically assaulted. These facts are not based on once year, but as every single school day. Could one even imagine what the numbers might look like on scale for a month of school, let alone a whole year? So would starting with searching lockers really be a step to far to try and lower the numbers? Some may think yes due to the school invading the students’ privacy. The majority of people though will say no, doing searches of student’s lockers is not a bad

Who should choose the books for the class to read, teachers or students? I support the decision to let students pick the reading for next school year. The first reason is that students will be more focused on the book because they like it. Next, students will get good grades because they have actually read it. Lastly, they understand it more because they picked their level.

Citizens in America are born with a various amount of rights. One of these rights include the freedom of speech and expression. However, school administrators have the ability to restrict a student’s expression. The Supreme Court Cases ‘Bethel School District v. Fraser’ and ‘Frederick V. Morse’ gave schools the right for the administrators to discipline children when they see fit. Students should be able to express themselves in any way without fearing that their school administrators will discipline

In the case New Jersey v. T.L.O., the student’s purse was searched after the principal had reasonable suspicion that she had cigarettes in her purse since she was caught smoking in the bathroom. The court decision in this case concluded that teachers are acting as agents for the state and are therefore allowed to search if they have reasonable suspicion. Students do have the Fourth Amendment right as all people in America have. However, student’s expectation of privacy has to be balanced with the needs of the school to maintain the educational environment. Schools do not have to obtain a warrant to search, but must have reasonable suspicion in order to search a student’s person or property.

A warrant is not needed for school officials to search a student who is under their authority. New Jersey v. TLO, 469 U.S. 325 (1985).

Although there are many, loving and caring students all around the world.Many students in school could have firearms and drugs on school grounds at anytime around during school hours and after. There are also bad things about searching there lockers you could maybe go through their privacy and personal belongings.

Justice Thomas had a dissenting opinion and stated that the fourth amendment right does protect us against unreasonable search and seizures (as did most of the judges). But it is the context of were it takes place he says students have the fourth amendment right just not on school property. The reason is the responsibility the school and the officials have is to ensure the safety of the students. Thomas concurred in the

Should school officials and police officers be allowed to search through students phones? School officials and police officers should be allowed to search students phones. School officials and police officers need to be able to check students phones, so they can keep everyone safe. Some people think that school officials shouldn’t be able to search students phones, instead it should be the parents problem.

The intent of the Fourth Amendment is to guarantee security against unreasonable governmental searches. Because school officials are actually

Ever since the first school shooting, a lot of people have changed their beliefs on this subject. I was in eighth grade when the shooting at Columbine High School took place. Before that shooting, I never would have considered something like that happening. Now, it is seventeen years later and school shootings almost seem like an everyday thing. That is sad, but it is true. This is why I believe a student should not have a high expectation of privacy while at school. The law used to be more lenient, but these circumstances have changed that. Right after Columbine, a lot of states had a zero tolerance law. According to the Center for Public Education site, this law said that if a student was caught with contraband they were given a strict punishment, no matter what the circumstance was. The laws have changed some over the last few years, and are not quite as strict as that. The schools still have to ensure that every student is safe, though. It is common for schools to have metal detectors or bring in dogs on a regular basis. Once they have a reason to suspect a student, they have the right to search their belongings. I believe this is well within their rights as administrators who are trying to protect the school as a whole. I realize that students may feel violated, I have been there. It was always an inconvenience to have to sit outside the hallways while the dogs searched each room. I never felt like it was wrong when they did find something though. So many students would bring large amounts of drugs, guns and knives to school. If it weren’t for the measures that the school took they would just be walking around with these items. I hope these laws never change, and my kids have the same protection that I did. I would hate to imagine my child going to school with guns and drugs within an arm’s reach. I believe the issue of student’s privacy is one that many people can agree with each other on.

I think that students’ expectations of privacy while in school are guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution which states that people have the right to be secure in their persons, property, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures (Siegel & Welsh, 2014). The schools must create and maintain a safe environment for students to learn. I feel that as long as the school provides safety and education then their policies should reflect. If searching the students’ property before they enter school grounds is necessary to ensure safety that is a reasonable search. Reasonable searches must be fair and impartial to all students no matter their race, ethnicity or gender. An example of an unreasonable search would be if

Robby Soave says in the article, No Warrant, No Problem: Students’ Lockers Searched at Random By Drug Dogs, “These searches teach them that they have no privacy-there is no place the authorities can’t touch.” The students do need to know they don’t “run” the school, they need to be taught what’s right and what’s wrong. Sometimes that has to be learned the hard way.

Prior to the landmark ruling by the United States Supreme Court, New Jersey v. T.L.O., 469 U.S. 325, 105 S. Ct. 733, 83 L. Ed. 2d 720 (1985), the clarity on how search and seizures applied to students in public schools were unclear. A particular case from 1969 can shed some light regarding on how the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution defines student rights in public schools. In Tinker v. Des Moines, 393 U.S. 503, 89 S. Ct. 733; 21 L. Ed. 2d 731 (1969), the court found that:

Schools shouldn’t be allowed to conduct random searches of students private items. I mean schools make it so our private items stay private so why can they do searches through

One of my suggestions is that is the police officer shouldn’t come to school to enforce school discipline, but it depends on a situation. That is like some students would bring guns or something dangerous, or have big fighting at school. I think these are normal thing for police officer to enforce and help school, but there was a surprised incident at school in South Carolina. That was that a teacher called to police officer because a girl continued to play with her phone. The police tackled her to take phones from her. I knew the incident form an article that is written by Los Angeles Times,