Imagine if a child was sent to school and one of his or her or classmates, or possibly even themselves, brought something illegal that could hurt people? Students could do this everyday and teachers would not know because the student did not seem suspicious. Students should not have privacy in schools so that these things do not occur. Schools should have this unlimited right to search a student’s possessions because of ownership issues, educational purposes, and safety precautions. Schools should have an unlimited right to search a student’s possessions because of ownership issues. Some people believe that because the student’s use the lockers in school, that it is theirs and that they deserve privacy. This is not true because the students did not pay for the lockers, and because the lockers are not located on the student’s property. Students do not own the lockers they use. Which should make them expect little privacy. The Wisconsin court had a case against Isiah B, who said the school searching his locker was illegal. “The Wisconsin court disagreed. It ruled that since the lockers were the property of the Madison schools…. Isiah B. had no ‘reasonable expectation of privacy,’” (Peart). The school's own these lockers and are simply allowing students to use them. Schools should have the ability to search a student’s locker whenever they want. Students should not expect a reasonable amount of privacy, unless they own the locker. As a result, schools owning the lockers should give them the ability to search the lockers. Schools should also have an unlimited right to search a student’s possessions because of educational purposes. A student’s main focus in school should be about learning, not about what classmates are keeping in their locker. “The Supreme Court ruled that student’s privacy rights and their protection against ‘unreasonable search and seizure’ must be weighed against the school’s need to provide a sound learning environment,” (DiConsiglio). By allowing a teacher to search a locker should not be a problem if none of the students have something to hide. If a student does have something to hide, and does not want a teacher to search their locker, the school needs to make sure whatever they have would
Such actions that may violate a student’s constitutional rights as a citizen would be an administrator or school law enforcement searching a student or their personal belongings for unjustified reasons while in school. The boundaries of the fourth amendment are very complicated when dealing with the rights of students being that the school systems have
Personally I think it is a violation of the law in some cases. Schools do have the permission to search the lockers though because of the fact that it is their property they’ve funded it but there has been some situations with faculty searching your pockets and backpacks or even making you take off your clothing. Now the pocket and backpack check is something that they can do when you enter the building but not at random times. They have to have probable cause which means they need a reason to search you meaning the person who is conducting the search or a witness visibly see you with something you’re not supposed to have, or smell a use of drugs or alcohol.
"On a scale basis, most people actually hate locker searches and think that schools need to terminate them." Joseph, a friend of a student whose locker got searched said. His friend, Ryan had school locker searches in his school. They were allowed to have their phones out during lunch, but when the security pulled him away from his friends at lunch to have a locker search, they confiscated Ryan's iPod 4. He never saw it again. The security said that they kept it, but it "somehow" got lost. Students should not conduct random locker searches because they will lose their privacy, have misplaced focus, and the search could lead to legal issues. I mean, how many times have people found bad in lockers in the past 12 years?
Where as others may believe that this will make the school system more of a bureaucracy. Further more those would also argue that most of the time lockers are hardly involved in the keeping of contrabands. If students have contraband items they are more likely to keep it on them and therefore randomly searching lockers it not as important. The time and energy which would be spent searching lockers could be used in more efficient way.
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.
On account of lockers being the school’s property it is legal for them to search them at any time under the right circumstances.
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).
In conclusion, even though there are many different pros and cons about searching school lockers humans today need to search them if need when needed.Although school locker searches can be bad in some legal
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 reason is schools should be able to search students belongings to make sure they do not contain contraband items such as marijuana, guns, knives ,...etc. But schools should never have the right to search your person even if you are carrying contraband because schools should not have enough jurisdiction. School officials should have to call law enforcement to the school to conduct a proper search on a student that is believed to be carrying contraband. Schools just want a safe environment for teaching and learning so that student can know that they are safe in school and not have to worry about getting in harm's
The intent of the Fourth Amendment is to guarantee security against unreasonable governmental searches. Because school officials are actually
Now addressing the complete disrespect and breach of privacy when it comes to school lockers. Lockers aren’t ever really safe, it’s true. If wanted/required a security guard can easily unlock your locker at any point in time during a school day. And you might be thinking: “Okay? So what, they’re just kids” well newsflash, kids have rights too. K-12, the upper echelons of the education system sometimes out right accuse these poor students of harboring drugs and other unlawful paraphernalia within their lockers, and takes upon themselves to undergo what they call “a locker search”, or in other words. “Breach of privacy example number 3”.
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.
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:
Some claim that they are the school property and if something is going on then they should be able to conduct a search, but the schools did give the students the lockers to keep there stuff safe, on the impretion that the schools can’t shereach them.So schools shouldn’t be allowed to conduct random searches of students privat items.