More details to this question:
I recieved a call from my daughters school that she was caught sluffing in the girls bathroom but thats pretty much all that was said on my voicemail from the vice principal I tried to call him back but he had left for the day so I talk to my daughter who is 15 about what had taken place. She told me that the vice principal and the school cop (Both male) opened the bathroom door, and asked if she was done. She said yes, and came out of the bathroom. The officer asked her if there were other girls in the bathroom, she said no, because she didnt want to get her friends in trouble. The vice principal said he could hear people walking in the bathroom, so he asked her to go into the bathroom with him to see who was in there. Then the other three teenage girls came out of the stalls. He began to question them, while still in the bathroom. He asked them what they were doing, they said skipping class. Then he asked them if they were smoking in the bathroom, they all said no. So he had all the girls line up against the bathroom wall, and searched them one at a time. He had each of them pull out their pockets, take off their shoes, lift their pant legs up to see their ankles, lift their shirts up to see if they were hiding anything on their waist lines. Then as the vice principal searched their bags, the officer searched the bathroom stalls, and garbage cans for any evidence of them smoking, which nothing was found, except for a broken empty lighter. He then took their names, and walked them down to the office. Then proceeded to call each parent. My daughter also told me, that they did not ask for permission to search them, nor was I asked for permission. I believe my daughters, and her friends rights have been violated, do you agree with this?
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The U.S. Supreme Court has consistently found that children at school have a reduced expectation of privacy in comparison to the general public. The Fourth Amendment only protects any of us from unreasonable searches. Generally, this means that there must be probable cause before a government agent can search your bags or your person. But in school, the government interest in keeping order and protecting children's safety outweighs the need for probable cause, and officials can detain and search children on just "reasonable suspicion." This means that the official has to have some knowledge that makes it moderately probable that he will find evidence. Probably the wrongdoing in question has to be a violation of school policy or the law.
Once there is reasonable suspicion, the official can only be so intrusive as necessary and supported by the suspicion. In one case, the Supreme Court decided that having a 13 year old stretch out her bra and underwear was unconstitutional because the principal did not have any information that could make him believe that she was hiding pills in her underwear.
Your child's case probably turns on whether the vice principal had enough information to raise a reasonable suspicion of smoking, and whether smoking is a violation of law or policy, or poses a significant danger to the students. It probably also depends on just how invasive the search was. If he had her do anything that would expose her private parts, that is much more likely a constitutional violation.
This answer is not intended to be legal advice. What you should do in your situation depends specifically on the circumstances, and you should speak with a lawyer at length about your case. If you are interested in making an appointment, I would be happy to make a time for us to speak.
Answered on Feb 04th, 2013 at 7:39 PM