Question about the rules and boundaries of appropriate searches by public school administrators?

Question

Would you say that an administrator of a public school is OVERSTEPPING their limitations if, (during a search through a students belongings for drugs, ciggs, etc.) they take out the students cellphone and look through their text messages?

Answer 1

That would depend on what the administrator was looking for and the age of the pupil.

Any search by a school worker should be appropriate to the reasons which originally justified it.  If it is a general search for contraband (which, to be best of my recollection, was never done when I was in school), then it is difficult to imagine why the administrator would want to look at text messages.  Presumably, there was a reason.

You should ask.  If it was done for no reason, or was done out of mere curiosity, then it is not reasonable.  If there was a reason, you are certainly entitled to know what it is.  You can then ask for a meeting with the administrator involved and the school principal or superintendent.  Violating a child's privacy for no reason is not fair to the child and it sets a bad example of the whimsical use of power by a person in authority.  How that child uses power, when and if they ever hold some, will be influenced by their experiences with those who had power over them.  Teachers should set a good example for the child by showing respect for the individual person and their possessions.  

When I was in school, a search of a child's things was very unusual and a search which extended as far as looking at private letters (cell phones weren't a child's possession) would be pretty serious.  If the administrator must search through the child's messages, they should of course take the child aside and explain exactly what they are looking for and exactly why this needs to be done.

Answer 2

mmm

Answer 3

Personally, I think there should be some kind of reasonable suspicion type of justification for doing that. But I also think school administration should have a lot of leeway to make sure the school environment is safe and conducive to good learning.

Answer 4

When you are at school, any school administrator or officer has the right to search your bookbag or locker and cellphone without a warrant.

They are within their legal boundaries to do so.