4th Amendment of Students in Public Schools

[CuriousKat28]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Hawaii

Does a school official have the right to search and read a student's personal notebook if there is no reason to suspect any wrong doing?

My son was sent to the Principal's office when a teach took my son's notebook away and read the content of it. The reason for doing so was my son was doodling in it while the teacher was speaking. The issue I have is, my son was sent to the principle because he had drawing of fighting cartoon characters in the earlier pages. Did the teacher have the right to scan the pages when the page he initially was looking at had different smiley faces on it but he then look throughout the notebook?

Is this a violation of the students 4th amendment rights to privacy or a reasonable expectation of privacy as the prior pages had nothing to do with what was actually the concern of the teacher for doodling? Can my son spend an in school suspension for this violation, hence being punished? He is in 7th grade age 12.

Thank you for your time and assistance.

 

[CdwJava]

As with any such issue, the answer really is, "Maybe."

The courts have given the schools a great deal of leeway to address issues of school safety and disruption of school activity. The question would first become one of whether or not the teacher could look in the notebook. Unless he snatched it from the student, I suspect the argument will be that he asked the student for the book and it was given to him. The teacher then looked inside and saw what he believed to be an offensive drawing, If they saw something that violated policy, they do not have to suddenly go back and pretend they did not seize it, so they can act on it. And looking back on previous pages can easily be articulated as reasonable once the book was seized (how does the teacher know the previous pages were done earlier, for example).

I imagine these fighting cartoon characters were a little more offensive than you characterize them, right?

The question now would seem to be how far you want to go to press the issue? If your schools are the same as out here, there is an appeals process for suspensions. You can appeal the decision utilizing the process in place and can even hire an attorney (at great expense, I imagine) to assist you. Whether it will work or not is hard to say without all the details and a knowledge of the related laws in HI.

 

[stealth2]

What ever happened to the days when a parent would tell the kid off for not paying attention to the teacher and to suck up the punishment? No wonder so many kids have a feeling of entitlement - they get it from their parents.

 

[justalayman]

What ever happened to the days when a parent would tell the kid off for not paying attention to the teacher and to suck up the punishment? No wonder so many kids have a feeling of entitlement - they get it from their parents.

I hear ya stealth, I hear ya.

 

[CdwJava]

I would be all over my child for not paying attention and for creating offensive drawings (assuming, of course, that the drawings were actually offensive).