School
Search
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This is Robert
Scirocco bringing you today's Law Bit.
The U.S. Supreme
Court has held over the years that school administrators can act in the place
of parents or even the police when it comes to performing searches on both the
students themselves, as well as their property such as handbags or lockers.
In a recent Arizona case a 13 year old student was suspected of possessing and
distributing to other students common over-the-counter pain medication going
so far as to having the nurse check the girl’s private bodily areas – in
other words having the nurse perform a strip search. Nothing was found and the
girl sued for violating her civil rights. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed that
the student’s rights were violated in that the search was unreasonable
and an invasion of her right to privacy.
What is significant was the Court’s emphasis that these are fact sensitive
cases and in the right circumstances such a strip search might be justified – depending
on the nature of the drug or weapon suspected or the age of the student.
So although school administrators can’t get carried away, they still possess
considerable power over their students.
This is Robert
Scirocco, Attorney at Law, Budd Lake, New Jersey, bringing you today's Law Bit.
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