| The purpose of this research is to examine the use of search and seizure by school administrators as it relates to public school students and their Fourth Amendment protection. Materials used in this study included all of the federal and state appellate courts cases from 1985 to 2002. Research included identifying and analyzing the court cases to determine the patterns and trends relevant to public school administrators. Understanding the trends and decisions of the court cases is necessary for public school administrators. In order to safeguard the constitutional rights of public school students and avoid unnecessary litigation, administrators must determine the reasonable level of suspicion and understand relevant court cases that address this issue.;Court cases from across the United States from 1985--2002 were analyzed for this research. There were a total of 124 cases involving search and seizure reviewed by the state and federal appellate courts. According to the research, court cases that dealt with search and seizure issues addressed the two-prong standard of reasonableness adopted in New Jersey v. T.L.O. (1985). Areas of search during this period included personal searches of clothing, jackets, book bags, locker, and automobiles. Of these decisions, decisions about the reasonableness of searches were found in favor of the school officials when the individualized suspicion was linked to specified factors. In 1995, the Vernonia v. Acton case not only changed the definition of reasonableness for a searches inception, but it also readjusted the boundaries for the scope of searches. The foundation of Vernonia (1995) and later Board of Education v. Earls (2002) allowed for a more empowering view of the school setting for administrators in regards to search and seizure scope. This "re-empowering" of school officials was established in Vernonia (1995) because of the "tutelary" responsibility of schools. The cases analysis of this study found that the courts upheld the searches by school officials 93 out of 124 times. There were 41 principles developed from the analyses of these cases that should enable school administrators to prepare and analyze better techniques in search and seizure cases. |
