Regarding school searches, courts have provided guidelines balancing individual students' rights against the larger school community's rights. Administrators are bound by the Fourth Amendment, which stresses reasonable grounds of suspicion and related circumstances. Strip searches, metal detectors, hidden cameras, and locker searches may meet…

Presents a lesson plan for teaching about gangs and the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Includes a handout and discussion questions and identifies sources for further reading. (SG)

In "New Jersey v. T.L.O.," the Supreme Court determined that public school searches must meet a two-pronged reasonableness standard. Search must be "justified at its inception" and be "reasonably related in scope to the circumstances." Examines factors that courts have found important in applying the T.L.O. standard.…

In DesRoches v Caprio, federal district court ruled in favor of Jim DesRoches who had decided not to consent to a search of his backpack for a pair of allegedly stolen sneakers. Judge Robert G. Doumar decided the need to find the stolen sneakers did not outweigh the students' privacy interest and offered guidelines about school searches for stolen…

Asks whether proponents' justifications for using metal detectors to counteract school violence are compelling enough to override students' privacy interests. Concludes that there are serious constitutional concerns raised by using metal detectors. The rationale for upholding school searches in other contexts does not apply to metal-detector…

After being accused of sexually harassing a student, a high school math teacher in New York was suspended with pay pending an impartial hearing. The district allowed the teacher to return to his classroom to collect his personal effects, which he had kept in boxes, desk drawers, and three filing cabinets, one of which was locked. He did not…

This paper addressed the need for continued awareness on the part of Educational Administrators as to their legal responsibilities as instructional leaders and custodians of the students under their supervision. Research revealed that school administrators unknowingly are violating the law everyday. Courts are keeping a close eye on school…

The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees "the right of people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures" by governmental officials. In a 1985 Supreme Court decision, "New Jersey v. TLO," students' privacy rights in public schools are afforded a lower…

One of the most controversial federal acts providing for random administrative searches is the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSHA). The author reviews the search and seizure law and concludes that abandonment of Fourth Amendment rights should not be predicated on the mere convenience of even a justifiable regulatory scheme. (JT)

It appears that university officials will be forced to recognize a student's right to privacy in a dormitory room. (PG)

Discusses how the constitutional prohibition of unreasonable search and seizure applies to searches of students and their property by school officials, as indicated by recent court decisions. Most of the cases examined were decided by state courts, since federal courts have not generally been involved in this area. (JG)

Discusses two recent court cases highlighting the legal pitfalls facing mandatory drug testing programs for teachers and students. In both cases, the courts contended that blanket testing policies violated Fourth Amendment protection from unreasonable search and seizure. Testing of individual teachers and students (under reasonable suspicion) may…

Reviews history of the doctrine of "in loco parentis." Examines court opinions in which the doctrine has surfaced as an issue in the following areas of litigation: corporal punishment, student searches, school rules, correlative duties, and teacher-student relationship at the college level. Finds that the status and scope of the doctrine…

Cautions that while the decision of the Supreme Court in "New Jersey vs. T.L.O." did affirm the authority of school officials to search students under some circumstances, it did not give them unfettered authority to search students. (FL)

Three cases dealing with reasonable searches and the exclusionary evidence rule form the basis of a classroom moot court acitivity. (Author/KM)