Is School Safety Infringing On Student Rights?
From APB News, www.apbnews.com , October 1999
As schools reopen with greatly increased security, civil libertarians say concern for students’ safety is overwhelming students’ rights.
“It’s unbelievable, on an unprecedented scale,” said Nadine Strossen, national president of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). “We’re seeing the equivalent of Fortress America, and students’ privacy rights and freedom of speech are under attack from within.”
Bloody tragedies, especially the April 1999 incident in which two students at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, gunned down a dozen classmates and a teacher before killing themselves, left an indelible mark.
Police officers, metal detectors, student identification cards and surveillance cameras are new to schools across the nation. So are routine backpack searches, drug tests, stricter dress codes, and less tolerance for schoolyard taunts or threats.
Courts Side With Safety
The ACLU, aggressively challenging policies in many public school districts, may be fighting an uphill battle.
“In the wake of increasing violence, courts seem to have become more deferential to school districts’ genuine concern for student safety and security,” said Cynthia Prettyman, general counsel for Palm Beach County, Florida, schools. “Students still have rights, and I’m sure the ACLU will stay on top of this, but any legal challenge will face a high hurdle.”
Still, some students have won.
Students Wore Armbands
In Allen, Texas, senior Jennifer Boccia is back in school after having a suspension expunged from her record.
She and nine other students wore black armbands to class to mourn the Columbine victims and to protest new rules imposed in their school as a result. Jennifer, an honors student, was suspended after defying an order to remove the armband.
“The school district just would not acknowledge that the First Amendment applies to students,” said Diana Philip, an ACLU regional director in Dallas. “We had to take them to court before an agreement could be reached.”
Ray Vasvari, legal director of the Ohio ACLU, cited two “invasions of student rights” that were challenged successfully. In one, a Stow boy was suspended from classes for a personal Web site titled “Stow High School Sucks.” In another, a Youngstown area high school sought to administer drug tests for all students participating in extracurricular activities.
“The post-Columbine reaction is regrettable,” Vasvari said. “When rights are whittled away, they tend not to return.”
Star of David a Gang Symbol?
Mississippi’s Harrison County School Board rescinded a policy that barred a Jewish boy from wearing a Star of David pendant after the ACLU sued on his behalf. School officials had considered it a gang symbol.
Julie Underwood, general counsel of the National School Boards Association, says school districts are well-served by programs emphasizing “culture and climate - how people treat other; whether a respectful learning environment exist.”
“We routinely get called for advice after a problem arises, after some policy is challenged,” she said. “We would like to field such calls earlier on.”
Rights Came From Supreme Court
Here, in question and answer form, is a look at what rights students have:
Q: Students are just children. Why do they have any rights?
A: Children, like adults, have legal rights. The Supreme Court, dating back to a landmark 1969 decision, has said students in public schools do not surrender all constitutional rights at the schoolhouse door. For example, the court has said school officials cannot squelch students’ freedom of speech based on “a mere desire to avoid the discomfort and unpleasantness that always accompany an unpopular viewpoint.”
Q: What about students’ privacy rights?
A: The Constitution’s Fourth Amendment, which protects against unreasonable searches and seizures, applies in public schools, but school officials get more leeway than police. And school searches of lockers and backpacks, even the use of metal detectors, are much easier to justify when the target is illegal drugs or weapons.
Still, courts generally require “individ-ualized suspicion” in certain circumstances, barring school officials from searching all students in a room just because one of them may have stolen some money or smuggled in a pack of cigarettes.
Q: What about drug tests?
A: The law is still evolving on this issue. The Supreme Court ruled in 1985 that student athletes can be subjected to random drug tests because athletic programs are voluntary and student athletes are role models. Since then, some lower courts have allowed drug testing of students engaged in other extracurricular activities. But some courts have struck down drug-testing policies.
In Oklahoma, two Pottawatomie County high school students are challenging a policy requiring drug tests for students involved in extracurricular activities, such as choir or marching band, for which they receive academic credit. No court anywhere has ruled that all students can be subjected to random drug tests.
Q: Is there somewhere students and teachers nationwide can find out the answers to specific questions?
A: No, the law on students’ rights can vary from state to state, depending on state laws and court rulings.