“9 Fundamentals of Search & Seizure Law for South Dakota School

Administrators”

School Administrators of South Dakota

April 7, 2015

FUNDAMENTAL #1

■ Fourth Amendment Applies in Public Schools

■ Students do not “shed their constitutional rights . . . at the school house gate.”

FUNDAMENTAL #2

■ Public School Administrators are “State Actors” under the Fourth Amendment

■ New Jersey v. TLO (1985)

FUNDAMENTAL #3

■ Public School Students - “Expectation of Privacy”

■ Persons and Articles Brought to School

FUNDAMENTAL #4

■ Students Have Lower “Expectation of Privacy” than the General Public

FUNDAMENTAL #5

■ “Expectation of Privacy”

■ Student’s Person

■ Items Brought to School

FUNDAMENTAL #6

■ “Expectation of Privacy”

■ Purses or Backpacks

■ Lockers

FUNDAMENTAL #7

■ Searches Must Be “Reasonable”

■ Probable Cause NOT Needed

■ Warrant NOT Needed

FUNDAMENTAL #8■ “Justified at its Inception”

■ “Reasonable grounds for suspecting that the search will turn up evidence that the student has violated or is violating the law or rules of the school”

■ TLO

FUNDAMENTAL #8■ “Reasonable in Scope”

■ “Measures used reasonably related to the search’s objectives and not excessively intrusive in light of the age and sex of the student and the nature of the infraction”

■ TLO

FUNDAMENTAL #9

■ Technology and the Fourth Amendment

■ Cell Phones, PDAs, Google Glasses, etc.

■ Same Standards Apply?

SEARCH & SEIZURE QUIZ

■ Scenario # 1

■ Scenario # 2

“9 Fundamentals of Search & Seizure Law for South Dakota School

Administrators”

School Administrators of South Dakota

April 7, 2015