School Administrator’s Reasonable Search (Case Law)

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The Court next looked at the issue in New Jersey v. T. L. O.,469 U.S. 325, 334-335 (1985). This case outlined the ability of school administrators to search when they reasonably believed that a student had committed an infraction of the rules or the law. of the rules or the law. The United States Supreme Court held that the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures applies to searches that school officials conduct and not solely to those that law enforcement officers carry out.

The Court said that determining reasonableness involves a twofold inquiry: first, was the action was justified at its inception, and second, was there a reasonable relationship in the search’s scope to the circumstances that justified the initial interference. Under ordinary circumstances, the search of a student is justified where reasonable grounds exist to suspect that a search will uncover evidence that the student has violated or is violating either the law or the rules of the school.Such a search will be permissible in its scope when the measures adopted are reasonably related to the objectives of the search and not excessively intrusive in light of the student’s age, sex and nature of the infraction.

The Court also said that school officials do not need to establish probable cause before conducting a search because the legality of a search of a student and the student’s locker depends on its reasonableness. The less stringent standard was the Court’s attempt to balance the student’s interest in privacy with the substantial interest of teachers and administrators in maintaining discipline and safety in the classroom and on school grounds.

In T.L.O., a teacher’s observations led to the initial search for cigarettes. The discovery of the rolling papers then gave rise to a reasonable suspicion that T.L.O. was carrying marijuana, and this suspicion justified further exploration that turned up other drug related activities. For more information on T.L.O. and the issues of law enforcement in the schools, go to Chapter 27 of the Manual of Law Enforcement Risk Control