court cases

In the case of Safford v Redding, the issue was that Arizona school officials went too far in a strip search on a 13 year old girl for ibuprofen. The case was ruled against Safford, eight members of the court found that the search was unreasonable for the low threat posed. This case explains how far some school officials can go, and how wrong it is. Anyone would agree that strip searching a 13 year old girl for ibuprofen is wrong, but what if it had been something more dangerous? What if the girl had marijuana or heroin? Then would a strip search be necessary?
In Tecumseh, Oklahoma a School District put in a policy stating that all students participating in school-related activities were to go through random drug testing held by school officials at any time while participating in these activities. In this policy the school officials can test the students with no suspicion at all, at anytime during the school day or whilst the activities are taking place. The policy was challenged because it was said that it violated the Fourth Amendment. In a 5-4 decision the United States Supreme Court disagreed, explaining the policy as “a reasonable means of furthering the School District’s important interest in preventing and deterring drug use among its students.” The Court concluded that the school District had provided enough sufficient evidence of drug use by their students that were involved in extracurricular activities. It also concluded that taking urinary samples were also not overly intrusive to the student’s privacy. Should schools be able to test if their students are taking drugs? How much evidence does a school need to be able to do this? how can we judge when these approaches are appropriate?

current interpretation

While students are present at a non-private public school, their rights to being searched are slightly different than if they were an adult being searched by a law enforcer/police officer. While a student is at school the teachers, officials, and principles are "in loco parientes" meaning the school faculty should take the place of the students' parents while they're kids are at school. Just like parents, the teachers shall be able to search students and their belongings with certain suspicion in an appropriate way. depending on the severity of the issue, and the potential harm the student could cause with whatever him/her are being searched for, the faculty should treat the problem and apprehend the issue with an appropriate amount of attention and handle it by its level of dangerousness to the student body in an individual level and in sense of the amount of harm it can cause the student body as a whole. some schools in different areas of the USA handle this in different ways depending on the amount of problems with students and contraband in the schools therefore having different policies on student searches to keep other students in their opinion "safe", but do their policies follow the fourth amendment and are they necessary in all situations?

Constitutional Connection

The fourth amendment of the constitution states:
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and
Effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and
No Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or
Affirmation and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized." (U.S.CONST. amend. IV.)
This basically explains an American citizen's right to their property and their right to not be searched for no probable cause or reason. Also explaining that in the case that someone was to try to search another's person they'd need to have a legitimate reason behind it, and it should be supported by oath or affirmation that the person being searched has the contraband. But does the case of searching students while they are attending school follow this? I think certain types of searches do not, such as sweep searches. Sweep searches are done by publicly but briefly searching everyone's belongings in a room. I think this infringes the fourth amendment because when you search everyone like that you are assuming one person out of all of these people have the contraband, and the fourth amendment says that a search can be done "only by oath or affirmation , and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized." searching everyone for something abuses the rights of all of the victims because there is no affirmation that these persons have the contraband, therefore the search is meaningless and does not protect "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures".

Issue explanation

The issue of student searches is an ongoing controversy,and the issue in it all is when is it justifiable to search a students person, and how it should be done. In school, the school officials and faculty are "in loco parientes", meening they take the place of a students parents while the students are at school. So the students shouldnt have a high expectation of privacy with theyre items on the school property. Take this as an example...
Say you host a party or social event at your house, and there is a large turnout. Also say that there is suspicion among the crowd that one person at the party pickpocketed another person for their wallet. Is it ok to search that person in hopes to contraband the wallet? It all depends on the situation. Say no one saw him/her take the wallet and its just a suspicion and theres just a "hunch"... should that one individual be searched or should everyone? Or what if someone saw him/her with it? Then maybe its probable cause, but how should they search him/her?

student searches issue

The issue on student searches is simple, should it be ok to search students? if so.. in what situation is it apropriate, and what is the apropriate way to go about the search. there are many ways a person can be searched, a few ways include:
-emptying of the pockets or belongings
-locker search
-pat down
-police dog sniff search
-and even strip searches
all are simi-effective ways to search a student for something that may be harmful to them or another student, but what is the apropriate way to search in whatever situation? in further research i hope to find this answer, but for now its still a highly talked about and thought about question that can cause arguement and agreement depending on who you talk to.