Current Interpretation

As many people know, the rights that students have while they are in school are less than they have outside of school. One of the reasons for this is because of something called in loco parentis which is Latin for 'in the place of parents'. If you are suspected of having contraband, they are allowed to break your privacy in order to keep everybody else safe. They don't need permission, or a warrant, like they would if you were not in school. The supreme court decided this in the case of New Jersey vs. T.L.O.

Even though school officials are allowed to do this, they can't just search anybody at anytime. According to the supreme court, school searches are only justified "when there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that the search will turn up evidence that the student has violated or is violating either the law or the rules of school."Some states, have even made these "reasonable grounds" be supported by facts in order for students to be searched. Much like outside of school, if a school official is to search a student, he/she must have reasonable suspicion, although it doesn't have to be as much as outside of school. If there was a scale on how much reasonable suspicion you had to have in order to search a student, in school, would be lower than outside of school. If a teacher was informed by somebody that a student had drugs in his possession, it would make a difference on who exactly told him. The court says that they will more likely search somebody if an adult brings forward evidence, than if another student gave a teacher evidence, because adults are more "reasonable". It also depends on when and where the violation occurred. For example, if somebody came forward and said they saw a particular student with a gun last year, then the teachers are not allowed to search them. Or if a student was smoking marijuana at a friends house, that doesn't justify the search either. 

However, some teacher search kids illegally, and when that happens the evidence that they find may not be able to be used in a prosecution of the case. However, it can be used to discipline the kid. So if marijuana was found in an illegal search of the kids back pack, they probably would not be able to use that in court, however he would probably either get suspended for a while, or get expelled.

All in all, student searches, and searches and seizures, are similar, but not the same. Students are not allowed to refuse searches and you dont' need a warrant to search them, only reasonable suspicion.