The question being asked involves having reasonable suspicion that a student is communicating with someone else (whether it be with another student or not) about selling drugs. A school should still not have the right under the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution to search that particular student’s phone. This Amendment states, “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” If a school authority is truly and reasonably suspicious that a student is using their cell phone or other electronic device during school hours to communicate with another person about selling drugs, said school authority should contact a higher authority (i.e., the police) and obtain a proper warrant to seize and search the student’s device. The Fourth Amendment protects such searches and seizures from happening without “probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation”, and that right should not be violated.

On the other hand, if a school authority is suspicious of a student possibly having illegal drugs in their backpack during school, that is a completely different story. A student’s backpack is intended for school purposes. They are full of books, papers, and other necessary supplies for a student’s school day. Given that students’ backpacks are more than likely not a school’s property, it is a much closer relation to school than a student’s phone or other electronic device would be. If a school authority intends to seize and/or search a student’s backpack, however, the student should be fairly warned and informed of the reasons of the suspicions and the search and seizure. A seizure and/or search of anything belonging to a student should not be done in a sneaky way, without the student’s knowledge, or without reasonable and probable cause.

Any searches involving the suspicion of a school authority and a student should be executed during school hours. If a school authority sees a student outside of school hours with their backpack and for some reason suspect they may have drugs in said backpack, they should not be allowed to seize and search that student’s backpack. The authority figure should be required to contact police and have the police handle the situation rather than taking it into their own hands.

All in all, the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution, like the rest of the Amendments, should be taken very seriously. Even in schools and to minors and young adults, rights are rights and it is only fair for all Amendments to be active for all Americans in every facet of life.

At this day and age, there are numerous ways of communication, such as: Smart phones, Facebook, MySpace, and even Ipods. That also means there are multiple ways to get someone into trouble. A student can be in contact with a teacher or friend in a second. Not all of the these communication areas are used in the best ways though. Facebook, known as a social networking site connecting with friends, family, and even potential coworkers. In high school, students seem to be using Facebook in a the wrong ways. Creating hate pages, starting unnecessary drama, and putting lives at risk. Recently, a freshman boy from South O’Brien, committed suicide after coming out to the world that he was gay. Former friends began to distance themselves from him. They started teasing and harassing this young boy, but one could not even tell that something was wrong. On April 14, 2012, his family arrived back to their house to find this boy had hung himself in their garage. As of right now, the parents of this boy are not pressing charges, nor are the police officers.

The First Amendment should not protect those students for what they had done. If someone has an opinion like that, don’t take it to Facebook where the whole world can see. Bullying is illegal in the state of Iowa and no one seems to be enforcing it, even after someone takes their life. That law should be enforced all of the country, their has been more suicides recently then there has been in a long time. Just because something like this was said online doesn’t mean anything. It just shows that there is proof to do something about it, even if someone deleted a comment or a wall post. More lives are being put at risk because people don’t seem to be doing much to stop it.

The principals of the schools lives will never be the same.  The case will follow them where ever they go, because the students that had created those pages on MySpace got away free because they were protected by the First Amendent. It doesn’t only affect them but also their family. Not only does that  case ever go away, but it will continue to be tried until those students are found guilty. Giving someone the right of free speech doesn’t give them the right to say just anything they want. They can say anything they want, but in the back of their minds they should realize that there will always be consequences.

The speech on networking sites outside of school can definitely disrupt in-school time. Bullying takes place online all of the time. It is freedom of speech, but it can hurt others in many ways and even help lead to a suicide to being committed. When the school then informs the whole student body of this tragedy, they cannot focus in school and it really is tough on everyone and little is accomplished in the week after this horrible event. It can also trigger fights between students during school hours. This may result in suspension, or expelling, but definitely is a distraction. Words can lead to wars.

This student is legal when it comes to the first amendment for the freedom of speech, but by making this profile of someone else, they then crossed the line of identity theft. Also, if they would have said it on their profile on MySpace as a “Status,” then it would be different, because it is their own expression of their thoughts. However, in the first amendment it says freedom of speech, press, assembly, petition to the government, and to their own religion (United States Constitution). This is beyond the freedom of speech and the other four do not permit it to be right either. Along with the Madison’s Resolution for Amendments to the Constitution (June 8, 1789) also says they can publish opinions, speech, writing, and press, but this is more than writing, opinions, speech, and press. They do not protect this student from being able to do this act.

If school officials could discipline students for off campus behavior though, many more students would be getting in trouble. Many students do illegal acts. It would be hard to discipline them all for it. The worst they really could do for these actions are to expel or to suspend them. School officials cannot and should not be able to stop the students freedom to internet speech. They should be able to inform students of the harm they are causing to the emotions of others, but it is their freedom to speech.

From looking at the first amendment and Madison’s Resolution for Amendments to the Constitution, it does give students the ability to give their opinions to others and say anything they want. This case shows it was not an opinion or just words, and was trying to give false information to others about this school official. This student should be found guilty.

~Is there a difference between searching a student’s backpack, and searching a student’s phone?~

Searching a person’s phone and searching a person’s backpack are two totally different things. A backpack is used for school supplies and things you would need during a school day. A phone is a personal connection to other people that doesn’t have anything to do with school. A phone allows us to communicate about and with out of school people and things. What is on phones is personal.

Hypothetically speaking, if a school let every single person in a school have a phone and it was the schools phone then that is a whole different issue. Just like the school owns our school laptops hypothetically if the school gave everyone a phone then they would have the right to take it, search it, and do just about anything with it because of the fact that it belongs to the school. A backpack should only have school stuff in it. It shouldn’t have anything worth being suspicious over because that isn’t the function of a backpack.

The fourth amendment states; “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” I’m going to break this down a little so its understandable. “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects.” This means that people have the right for anything they own or use to be secure to them. “Against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated.” This means that someone can’t just search your house, possessions, or anything that you own without a reason. “And no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” This just says that no one can make up an issue for a warrant without probable cause, or a good reason. For someone to get a warrant they have to state the reason they need it, why they need it, what they are going to use it for, and where are they going to use it.

The fourth amendment does not permit schools to search a students phone. They could tell the student who is suspected parents. But they don’t have the right to just take someones personal belonging and search through it. Phones aren’t relevant to schools unless hypothetically the school issued out a phone for each student to use. Peoples right and lives shouldn’t be violated by the school because the fourth amendment doesn’t permit schools to search someone’s personal belongings.

As a student in a public school, there are rights that everyone has. Students do not have to be searched for no apparent reason. But if there is reason to be searched, no matter the case, the school can do so in order to protect all of the students and staff that are in the building. Being searched, does include a cell phone because it is a belonging that holds information to find out what is going on.

If a school wants to drug test students who want to participate in extra curricular activities, they can have students take them. Because the extra curricular activities are extra and not a have to do like attending school.  When a student chooses to be in activities beyond just school, they have to follow a good conduct code. Students represent a school and how the system works. When there are drug tests in the student athletes, that prevents those students from taking drugs because they do not want to lose their spot on the varsity line up. A majority of students are apart of one extra curricular activity or another. The Fourth Amendment protects students from a random search. But if say, a drug dog comes onto campus, and detects drugs, that is probable cause to be searched.

Schools have procedures on when students do take drugs or get caught. Students cannot participate in extra curricular activities for a period of time, or even taken off the team or activity. This is a good rule to have in school systems.

Public school students have the same rights as adults, but when you attend school, there is a good conduct code that has to be followed. There are several stipulations that have to be followed when attending the school.

If a school has a probable cause to search a students belongings, like their backpack or purse, then the cell phone is apart of that category to be looked through for evidence. Especially if the drug selling was happening on school grounds, between two students who attend the school. A smart phone can be just like a computer and do web searches, so a lot of information can be withheld on a phone. People might say there is a difference between searching a backpack and searching a cell phone, but there isn’t really. They are both places that can hold valuable information. Schools and authorities can search the computers and see what they were used for.

The Fourth Amendment does permit schools to search a cell phone, but only if there is probable cause to do so. A cell phone is a personal belonging, so it would be unconstitutional to be searched just because.

Tanner Archer

I believe their is a difference between searching a backpack and a phone. The difference that maybe be the most present is that someone’s phone is their own personal item that maybe be used for work or for other things. Phones might have personal family information on them that no on should see. Phones are not used for school things or in school at all unlike a backpack which has all of your school items in which the school owns. If the school doesn’t have any evidence on you I don’t think they should be able to search phones. If the school has hard evidence against one I believe they should be able to search phones. This is a problem that I think is more relevant in city schools. Its a larger problem in cities because drug use and gangs are more in cities rather than in rural schools. Sure it happens in rural schools but I don’t think it happens as much. In either case I still believe that schools should not be able to search ones phone unless they have a previous record or evidence. Schools are a place for education not for the law. Schools may help with the law but it is not their job. Schools take phones away from kids if they are using them during class time. When they get taken away they may go to the principals office for either a day or maybe even a week depending on the school. If they do take phones they should not be able to go through them in any way shape or form if they do not have a reason. The way I feel in our school is that if my phone were taken and was given to the principal I feel like he might look through it. I have read in some cases that schools may want to do drug tests on student athletes. Testing student athletes would be an ok thing because some of the drugs they may be using could enhance their playing skills. It could affect them positively or negatively depending on the drug that they are using. Drugs like steroids are a drug that would most likely help a student athlete. Drugs like meth or cocaine would hurt athletes a lot because they harm the body a lot more then steroids.

In the end though i still believe that a school is a place for education not the law. The law may be brought up in schools from one student telling on another student or by having a hunch. Whether the case may be true or not i do not think the school should be able to check a students personal belongs to try and find out. If the schools wants to do more about it get the police involved and let them deal with it it’s their job. If schools do check it and take time out of the day of learning i believe that is wrong. The police are the people who should come in and handle it but they should not interrupt learning.

If students are bullying other students outside of school, it should be allowed that the school can regulate the internet use, if it is on a school computer. It would not be the school’s business if it wasn’t on a school computer, and what outside of the school area and school time. It is the same way at looking at the teacher who was getting harasses/bullied by a student. But that would need to be punished because it had affected him at school, and his reputation, and possibly his job and co-workers.

In our society if bullying is becoming an issue, I don’t see why cases like this could just be let go. It needs to be stopped by some form of punishment, or what is it going to come to? If it goes unpunished for the kids, no one is ever going to learn that it’s wrong, and the problem is going to keep spreading. What will it lead to? Threats? This has to be looked at from a different point, the principal had no control over what was happening and was being harassed. Is that what our country stands for? Letting people get their feeling hurt, not just kindergarten hurt, but actually affected them, and their work. Our first amendment protects our freedom of speech, yes, but there have to be limits. When it comes to other people’s lives getting affected so much as this principal’s, punishment is the only option.

Don’t let bullying go unnoticed. People have lost their lives because bullying has affected them and never stopped, and there was no way to deal with it. Who says it won’t happen just because he/she’s an adult? No one can guarantee that and we can’t let that keep happening. Our society needs to get a handle on bullying, but first, there will need to be punishment for those who do bully, no matter what age they are, or what form of bullying is going on.