Office of Accreditation & Teacher Quality

Student Rights & Responsibilities

Search & Seizure

The United States Supreme Court in New Jersey v. T.L.O., 469 U.S. 325 (1985), recognized that school personnel looking through a student's purse or backpack constitutes a search for Fourth Amendment purposes.  The right of school personnel to conduct a search on school grounds is allowed when the same search conducted outside of the school context may be constitutionally suspect.  The United States Supreme Court in Veronia School District 47J v. Acton, 515 U.S. 646 (1995), stated that "students within the school environment have a lesser expectation of privacy than members of the population generally."  That does not mean that school personnel have carte blanche to search a student's belongings or person.  The T.L.O. case defined the parameters when school personnel conduct a search on school grounds.  The student's expectation of privacy must be balanced against the substantial interest of school personnel in maintaining discipline and fostering an environment where learning can take place. 

For school officials to conduct a search of student or students, there must be reasonable suspicion:

1. A law or school rule has been violate;
2. The student or students have violated the rule or law; and
3. The evidence of the violation would likely be found in a particular place or manner.

The concept of reasonable suspicion is based on common sense, considering all of the facts and circumstances in a given situation.  A mere hunch or supposition is not reasonable suspicion.  Since the question of reasonable suspicion may be questioned following the search, it would be prudent for local school districts to develop a form to document the facts and circumstances that justified the search at its inception and the scope and procedures followed during a specific search.  This protects both the school district and the individual student from an unreasonable search.  One final note, there must be reasonable suspicion for each individual to be searched.  Blanket searches of an entire group are not protected except under specific circumstances that will be discussed in depth later in this document.