Lewisburg Area School District Policies	Printable version
226 Searches 226. SEARCHES The Board acknowledges the need to respect the rights of students to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures while fulfilling the district’s interest in protecting and preserving the health, safety and welfare of the school population, enforcing rules of conduct, and maintaining an appropriate atmosphere conducive to learning. The district shall notify students and their parents/guardians annually at the beginning of each school year, or more often if deemed appropriate by the Superintendent or his/her designee, of the details of this policy. All lockers are and shall at all times remain the sole property of the school district. As such, students shall only have a limited expectation of privacy in their lockers. School officials have the authority to lawfully search students or their belongings, including lockers, automobiles, electronic devices, purses, backpacks, clothing, and other possessions, without a warrant, when in school, on school grounds or when otherwise under school supervision, if there is a reasonable suspicion that the place or thing to be searched contains prohibited contraband, material that would pose a threat to the health, safety and welfare of the school population, or evidence that there has been a violation of the law, Board policy, or school rules. The scope and extent of searches must be reasonable in relation to the nature of the suspected evidence, contraband or dangerous material and to the grounds for suspecting that it may be found in the place or thing being searched. The district has a compelling interest in protecting and preserving the health, safety and welfare of the school population, which under certain circumstances may warrant general or random searches of students and their lockers, vehicles or other belongings without individualized suspicion, for the purpose of finding or preventing entry onto school property of controlled substances, weapons or other dangerous materials. Searches may be conducted through the use of metal detectors, drug-sniffing dogs, electronic equipment, or any other search method available in accordance with this policy. Drug-sniffing dogs shall not be permitted to conduct a search of a person without reasonable suspicion in accordance with law and this policy. The Board authorizes the administration to conduct searches of students or their belongings, including lockers, automobiles, electronic devices, purses, backpacks, clothing, and other possessions in accordance with the standards set forth in this policy. Searches conducted by the administration may include, but are not limited to utilization of certified drug dogs, metal detection units, or any device used to protect the health, safety and welfare of the school population. Students, parents/guardians and staff shall be notified at least annually, or more often if deemed appropriate by administration, about the standards and procedures in effect pursuant to this policy. The Superintendent or designee, in consultation with the district solicitor, shall develop guidelines and procedures to implement this policy, and shall ensure that school staff who are involved in carrying out searches or determining when searches will be conducted receive appropriate periodic training about such procedures and currently applicable legal standards. Search Procedure Any requests for a search related to an individual student shall be directed to the school building principal, who shall inform the student of the reason(s) for the search and shall also conduct the search. The principal shall also inform the student that s/he may call a parent/guardian or another representative to be present when the search is conducted. Decisions regarding whether or not to conduct a search will be made on a case-by-case basis by the building principal. Where appropriate or required by district policy, the principal may designate another person of the same sex as the student to conduct the search. The principal shall appoint a third party, who is the same sex as the student, to be present for each search. Where school authorities have a reasonable suspicion that a storage facility or personal belongings contain illegal materials that pose a threat to the health, welfare, and/or safety of school occupants, the storage facility or personal belongings may be searched without prior notification of the student. If the storage facility or the student’s personal belongings are searched due to a reasonable suspicion that it may contain illegal materials or pose a threat to the health, welfare, and/or safety of school occupants, any sealed containers discovered during the search shall be turned over to police. If circumstances prohibit a timely search, the storage facility, containing the student’s personal belongings can be secured by the principal and searched at a later time. If necessary, police authorities may be contacted to conduct a search. The principal or the designee conducting the search shall be responsible for promptly recording, in writing, a description of the search. This record shall include an explicit statement identifying the reason(s) for each search and the evidence supporting these reasons(s). This record must also identify all persons present during the search, all items found during the search, and the disposition of all items discovered during the search. The designated third party witness shall also sign a separate, independently written statement attesting to the accuracy of the principal’s report. Individualized Suspicion Searches Students or their belongings, including lockers, automobiles, electronic devices, purses, backpacks, clothing, and other possessions, may be searched without a warrant when in school, on school grounds or when otherwise under school supervision, if there is a reasonable suspicion that the place or thing to be searched contains prohibited contraband, material that would pose a threat to the health, safety and welfare of the school population, or evidence that there has been a violation of the law, Board policy, or school rules. The scope and extent of searches must be reasonable in relation to the nature of the suspected evidence, contraband or dangerous material and to the grounds for suspecting that it may be found in the place or thing being searched. In determining whether reasonable suspicion exists, the principal or designee always should be able to articulate what is being looked for, and why it is thought to be located in the particular place to be searched. The scope of a search should be limited to the place or places the item sought is believed to be. Examination by school staff of text messages, call logs, files, images or other data contained in a student’s mobile telephone or other electronic device, without the student’s consent, normally constitutes a search that must be justified by reasonable suspicion that material in violation of law, district policy or school rules, or evidence of such a violation, is contained in the particular files, directories or other data locations being examined in the device. Random Or General Searches Without Individualized Suspicion Under certain circumstances, random or general searches of students and their belongings, including student lockers or vehicles parked on school property, may be conducted during the school day or upon entry into school buildings or school activities, in the absence of suspicion focused on a particular student or students, for the purpose of finding or preventing entry onto school property or activities of controlled substances, weapons or other dangerous materials. Such searches normally will be conducted in a minimally intrusive manner using screening methods such as dogs or other animals trained to detect controlled substances, explosives or other harmful materials by smell, as well as metal detectors and other technology. When such screening methods provide a reasonable suspicion that particular students, items or places possess or contain controlled substances, weapons or other dangerous material, screening may be followed by physical searches of those particular students, items or places on an individualized basis. Random or general searches for weapons may be conducted when there are circumstances, information or events tending to indicate increased likelihood that students may be armed or headed for physical confrontation because of community strife or tensions, or as a continuation or escalation of a prior incident, in or out of school, which threatens to spill over into school, into a school-sponsored activity, or into other times and places that students are under school supervision. Random or general searches for controlled substances may be conducted when there are circumstances, events or information tending to indicate significant drug use, possession or trafficking among students in school. Random or general searches not based on individualized suspicion must be approved in advance by the Superintendent or designee, in consultation with the district Solicitor. Coordination with law enforcement officials will be accomplished as provided in the memorandum of understanding with the applicable law enforcement agency. Searches Upon Consent Searches may be conducted at any time, with or without reasonable suspicion, if the student has given knowing and voluntary consent specific to the place to be searched. The administration may establish rules and procedures governing certain privileges enjoyed by students, such as the privilege of parking a vehicle on school grounds, that make the student’s consent to random searches or inspections a condition of access to the privilege. Searches By Or At The Request Of Law Enforcement Officials Police authorities may be contacted to conduct a search where appropriate and in the sole discretion of the district. When police authorities are contacted to conduct a search, the search shall be conducted in accordance with the legal standards governing police searches, not by the standards governing searches by school officials. The legal standards governing searches initiated by school officials are less strict than the standards applicable to law enforcement authorities in many situations. When searches of students, student belongings, vehicles or lockers are conducted by or at the request of law enforcement officials, with or without the involvement of school staff, the law enforcement officials are solely responsible for ensuring that a warrant has been issued or that the circumstances otherwise permit the search to be lawfully conducted in accordance with the standards applicable to law enforcement actions. School staff will not interfere with or obstruct searches initiated by law enforcement, but may assist when law enforcement officials have requested such assistance and have represented that a warrant has been issued or that they otherwise have proper authority for a lawful search. The principal shall open a student’s storage facility or personal belongings for a search on the request of a law enforcement officer only on presentation of a duly authorized search warrant or upon the intelligently and voluntarily given consent of the student, except where there is the potential for threats to the health, welfare, or safety of school occupants. Locker Inspections And Searches Lockers are assigned to or otherwise made available to students as a convenience for the safe storage of books, clothing, school materials and limited personal property, and to facilitate movement between classes and activities and to and from school. Such lockers are and shall remain the property of the school district, and to the extent students have any expectation of privacy of lockers at all, it is very limited. No student may place or keep in a locker any substance or object that is prohibited by law, Board policy or school rules, or that constitutes a threat to the health, safety or welfare of the occupants of the school building or the building itself. Students are required to ensure that their lockers do not contain spoiled food items or beverages, or soiled clothing which may attract pests, create odors or cause unhealthy conditions. A student locker may be opened and inspected for cleanliness, with or without the consent of the student, whenever there are odors, pests or other indications that a locker contains spoiled food, soiled clothing in need of laundering or similarly unhealthy matter. Students are exclusively responsible for locking their assigned lockers to ensure the security of their personal belongings and school property entrusted to them. Students are permitted to secure their assigned lockers only with locks provided by the district, or if the district does not provide locks, personal combination locks for which the combination has been provided to designated school staff. Prior to an individual locker search or inspection, the student to whom the locker is assigned shall be notified and be given a reasonable opportunity to be present. However, when there is a reasonable suspicion that a locker contains materials which pose a threat to the health, welfare or safety of the school population, student lockers may be searched without prior notice to the student. The principal or a designated staff person and another staff member shall be present whenever a student locker is inspected for cleanliness or is searched. The principal or designee shall maintain written records of all occasions when a locker is searched or inspected. Such records shall include the reason(s) for the search, persons present, objects found and their disposition. The principal or his/her designee shall be responsible for the safekeeping and proper disposal of any substance, object, or material found in a student’s locker in violation of law, Board policy, or school rules. Searches Involving Removal Of Clothing Or Examination Beneath Clothing Searches of students involving the removal of undergarments or examination beneath undergarments are subject to stricter standards than are required to justify other searches of a student’s person or belongings. Such searches are permitted only when the basis for suspicion establishes either: 1. That the reasons for believing that the items being searched for are concealed specifically inside undergarments are stronger reasons than grounds that would support only a more general reasonable suspicion that the student is in possession of the items or has them somewhere on the student’s person; or, 2. That the quantity or nature of the items being sought present a higher level of danger to the school population than other kinds of contraband. Searches involving the removal of or examination beneath any clothing of a student, other than jackets, coats or other outerwear, shall be conducted only by a staff person of the same gender as the student, with at least one (1) other staff person of the same gender present as a witness, and in a location assuring privacy from observation by persons not involved in the search or of the opposite sex. Searches involving the removal of undergarments or examination beneath undergarments will be conducted only after receiving approval by the Superintendent and in consultation with the Solicitor. Handling And Disposal Of Items Found In The Course Of Searches Any items or material found during a search or inspection, the student’s possession of which is in violation of law, district policies or school rules, or otherwise is evidence of such a violation, may be confiscated, and may be used as evidence in student discipline proceedings or a criminal investigation, even if such items or material were not the original objective of the search or inspection. The principal shall be responsible to ensure that confiscated items or material are properly inventoried and secured until the conclusion of disciplinary action, if any, and are then returned to the student, where appropriate. If it is not appropriate for the confiscated items to be returned to the student, the principal shall be responsible for ensuring that these items are properly disposed of. Items or materials that are evidence of a criminal offense or that are not lawful for ordinary citizens to possess will be promptly turned over to proper law enforcement authorities for custody or disposal at the district’s discretion. False Reporting Any student who knowingly and intentionally makes a false charge against a student that leads to a nonproductive search may be subject to disciplinary action pursuant to Policy 218 governing student discipline. In the case of any teacher or administrator who knowingly and intentionally makes a false charge against a student that leads to a nonproductive search, disciplinary action may be taken in accordance with law, district policy, and any applicable provisions of a collective bargaining agreement. References: Pennsylvania Constitution – PA Const. Art. I, Sec. 8 School Code – 24 P.S. Sec. 510 State Board of Education Regulations – 22 PA Code Sec. 12.14 United States Constitution – Amendment IV Board Policy – 218, 218.1, 223, 227, 805 In re F.B., 555 Pa. 661, 726 A.2d 361, 368 (1999) Commonwealth v. Cass, 551 Pa. 25, 709 A.2d 350, 355-56 (1998) Safford Unified School Dist. No. 1 v. Redding, 129 S.Ct. 2633 (U.S. 2009)