“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 #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?