Search and Seizure in the Public Schools

Search and seizure in the public schools has long been a problem for both school authorities and law-enforcement officers. Students have also been known to have been deprived of their constitutional rights. Much of the problem stems from a lack of clarity in the application of the Fourth Amendment to the school setting. This monograph was written to provide a clear understanding of the standards presented by the Supreme Court in "New Jersey v. T.L.O." as well as answers to the issues left unresolved by the decision. The monograph also suggests some practical ways of applying search-and-seizure law to situations in the school setting. Following the introduction, section 2 describes issues related to students' rights and the Fourth Amendment. Section 3 lays out the reasonableness standard proposed by the Supreme Court: the higher probable cause standard that police follow is unsuited to the school environment. A model for the application of search-and-seizure law called TIPS is introduced, which consists of the variables to be considered by practitioners before engaging in a search. TIPS is an acronym for "thing/information/place or person/search methods." Other considerations, such as penalties, police involvement, and common errors, are discussed in the fourth section. The final section applies the reasonableness standard to searches for drugs and drug-use testing. Four figures and a table of cases are included. (LMI)