When You Break the Law, Being Searched is Not a Flaw

          How would you feel if you were searched? Would you feel embarrassed? Humiliated? Angry? Nervous? Thousands of students are searched every year, some illegally, inappropriately and immorally. When is it acceptable to search a student? And when is it improper? Schools have responsibility to provide a safe and effective learning environment. Students have a right to privacy. Wisdom is required to balance these often competing objectives. It is my belief that administrators should only perform searches when they have reasonable suspicion that a student is breaking the law, and not just school rules. For example, a student brings an iPod to school, against school rules. With the laws today, the school could search that student with reasonable suspicion. Is that really necessary? First of all, I would like to state that student searches are essential in daily life, but sometimes they can get out of hand. Second, there are many examples of searches that are appropriate, and these cases all happen when there is something illegal that is being searched for, not just against the school rules. And last, in cases where searches are conducted for  things are not against the law, the searches here are normally not tolerable.

            Imagine a life without student searches. Students wouldn’t be as afraid to bring knives or guns to school. More fights would break out. Drug dealing would become a whole lot easier for kids. As it is, 100,000 students bring guns to school daily in the U.S. 160,000 students skip classes because they fear physical harm, and in 2 years, handguns killed more Americans than were killed in Vietnam during the entire war. However, those numbers would go up drastically if students didn’t fear a teacher catching them. It is obviously a plus to have student searches. More than 60% of teens said that drugs were sold, used or kept at their school. Would you want your child at a school where students kept their drugs? Student searches try to eliminate that. Of course, you still need reasonable suspicion (a justified suspicion that is based on facts) to search someone, but if they are guilty, you can probably find that. Student searches are on the side of the common good. It is clear from this evidence that student search and seizure is one tool that school administrators should be able to use to keep students safe. The question is, under what circumstances should they be permitted.

            Sometimes, having a student searched is the best thing that can happen. In some situations it can even save lives. For example, in North Carolina, a student told the principal that Jason Murray had something in his book bag that he shouldn’t. The principal questioned Jason and asked if there was anything inappropriate in his book bag and at first he lied and denied that he had a bag, but once it was proven he did have one, he said there was nothing illegal in it. The principal then asked to search Jason’s bag, but he refused. The principal decided to contact the dean of students and the school resource officer. Eventually the officer cuffed the student, and the principal searched his bag, deciding that he had enough reasonable suspicion. After searching the bag thoroughly, he found a pellet gun and called Jason’s father. The court ruled that it was acceptable to search his bag here, because the lie about not having the bag, and the tip from the other student combined was enough to have reasonable suspicion. If they hadn’t searched him, somebody could have been severely injured. These cases happen daily all around the U.S. As you can see, it was a good idea to search this boy because he was breaking the law, and not just school rules. Another example of this is when a student with the initials of S.W. was walking through the halls of his school with another student. When he passed by the principal’s office, the vice principal noticed the smell of marijuana on him. The vice principal took him into the weight room and asked him if he “had anything on him”. S.W. replied that he didn’t. The vice principal then asked if S.W. “minded if he searched him,” and once again S.W. replied that he didn’t. The vice principal did indeed find marijuana on him. At first, I found this a little odd, because first of all, why would S.W. consent to the search, if he knew he had marijuana on him? It was perfectly acceptable to search S.W. in my opinion. The vice principal had reasonable suspicion, and he even had permission to search the student. Like the case before this, the person who got searched had something that was against the law and not just school rules.

            Now, imagine that instead of looking for something illegal, you were looking for something that was just against the school rules, such as Advil, an iPod, or a phone. Does your perspective change? Mine certainly does. An example of this would be the Safford vs. Redding case. Savana Redding, a 13 year-old honor student, attending Safford Middle School, in Arizona, was strip searched for being suspected of carrying prescription strength ibuprofen in her possession. A student at Safford Middle School turned in a white pill, later identified as ibuprofen, and said that he got it from a girl named Marissa Glines. When Glines was asked to empty her pockets, the principal found many other pills. When asked where she got these, she said that Savana had given them to her. He then pulled Savana out of class and brought her and the secretary into his office, and they searched her together. They didn't find anything. Then he took her into the nurse's office and strip searched her. He did all of this without calling Savana's mother. Eventually, the Supreme Court did rule that that was illegal, but it shouldn’t have even had to go to the Supreme Court in the first place. The district court should have ruled that this search was illegal. What is most likely, a middle school girl has Ibuprofen because she is trying to overdose, or because she has a headache? In my opinion, this search was not reasonable at all. Another example of an unreasonable case, is when a 12-year-old honor student named Richard Wade was suspected of having his phone out in his “football class”, after another classmate said that he had heard Wade’s phone go off. At the particular school that he attended, cell phones were against school rules, and so the teacher asked to search him for his cell phone. Eventually Richard Wade just handed over the phone to make things easier for everyone. I think that it is shocking that they would actually search a student because of a cell phone. A cell phone isn’t going to hurt anyone, and it doesn’t put the safety of others at risk, so why bother searching him? As you can see, in both of these unreasonable cases, the students have been searched for something that is just against the school rules and not against the law.

            In conclusion, I believe that students should only be searched under one condition. You must have reasonable suspicion that the student is breaking the law, and not just school rules. It is not necessary to search students for iPods, phones, Ibuprofen or other items that are not harmful or illegal. It will only embarrass them, and make them have an aversion to school. The decision of when to conduct a student search in school should focus on the forest, not the trees. Its primary goal should be to secure student and teacher safety, not to manage student behavior through over-control and fear. If it’s not against the law, student searches cause more harm than good.