Comments on: Sides split when it comes to school privacy

By: Gregorio Nieto

Gregorio Nieto — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 14:10:01 +0000

i think it absolutely ridicules that a student fought for “privacy protection”. if you on school grounds, of course you are subject to whatever the administration tels you with in reason that they are not asking you to harm yourself or someone else. they are responsible for you while your parents arnt there. if they think something is wrong of course they have the right to search whatever they please. however that doesn’t meant they do ridiculous checks everyday. it must be balanced. (“The school setting,” White wrote, “…requires some modification of the level of suspicion of illicit activity needed to justify a search.”) well if i was caught in the bathroom smoking, i would say thats suspicious enough to do a search.especially if it was initially for cigarettes. the marijuana was an addition to what was searched for. when your on school grounds, your supervisors and caretakers are the school faculty and staff, they must do whatever they can to keep all the students safe.

By: Colleen Eckvahl

Colleen Eckvahl — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 21:49:09 +0000

I personally believe that students should be protected under the fourth amendment, but only to a certain extent. I think school officials should have reasonable evidence to search a students personal things. At my cousin’s school in Texas when the school officials would get a tip that someone had something illegal on campus or something the security would come with their dogs and everyone in the class that that student was in [and sometimes the whole school] would have to line up outside in the hallway and the security would dump everything out of their backpacks onto the floor and have the dogs try to smell out whatever they were looking for. I don’t believe that is right. They’re taking away learning time to dump everyone stuff on the ground because someone who might be in that class might have something that is not allowed at school. Their system is far from perfect. Having all the students have their privacy invaded for what one student might have done is not right. I’m not saying that the school should never be allowed to search a students belongings, I’m just saying students need some right to privacy too.

By: LaStarza Bryant

LaStarza Bryant — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 10:06:13 +0000

honestly i don’t ‘believe there is anything wrong with the current school privacy settings. Children need to checked if needed, because remember, they are children. Some can and maybe be influenced with drugs, and 1 bad seed can ruin the rest. Although id do believe there is a such ting as “crossing the line” if we do more than whats expected now, there will be no doubt attitude received from the students. They just might not get with the program. Hopefully things do turn out right, i honestly believe they will

By: Jonathan Moges

Jonathan Moges — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 05:45:58 +0000

I dont believe that T.L.O’s rights were violated, because speaking from just a legal perspective, it doesn’t matter whether the police need a search warrent or not in order to search your belongings, because if you think about, if the officer has probable cause, which is something that essentially means if they see something or smell something or even hear something suspicious, then they have a legal obligation to investigate what the thing in question is. If officers couldn’t have that right, then technically speaking an officer who pulls over a murderer and hears strange bangings and noise from the trunk has no way of search that car without a warrent, and that noise could potentially be a dying person. So in order to live with the freedoms that we have today we need to live within a government that allows just a little invasion of privacy, after all the slight loss of the right of privacy is worth it, for all of the freedoms we gain.

By: rony franco

rony franco — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 00:54:59 +0000

The security checks are good in my opinion cuz kids wouldnt bring stuff to school that are illegal. Also having k-9′s to sniff out drugs are also good cuz people in many schools have lockers and kids hide stuff in them thinking they are safe but if dogs were brought in then they would be clean in schools of course and teachers would if someone was to have stuff in their lockers then they would get caught and would pay the consequences. The checking backpacks is good as well cuz people also hide things in their bags and not only lockers like weapons and drugs so it would be good to have these things be part of schools.

By: Edwin Coleman

Edwin Coleman — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 00:11:06 +0000

I think these random security checks that the laws has are good for the schools. And in the article they were talking about k-9s that came into the schools and began sniffing lockers. I actually think thas a good idea. i mean if the students dont have anything in their locker but books then they should not have a problem with it. Because in most public schools there will always be that problem where students bring drugs and sell them. And if there was a k-9 to stop that, then this use of drugs will be reduced. And as for the law coming into schools and checking bag packs and all that, that as well is not such a bad thing. if they have a reason to do what they are doing then it is okay. metal detectors are very effective as well, because sometimes students will bring guns and knifes. with these metal detectors then it will be difficult for them to be coming up with guns in the school.

By: Ronny Carbone

Ronny Carbone — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 22:21:45 +0000

^ that was me..ronny carbone. mybad.
To me, the principal was not in the wrote. They had smelled weed in the bathroom, so they a valid reason to search for paraphernalia. It it turns out that she was dealing drugs, so it proves that they searched her for a reason. Im sure that schools can search a handful of students and catch maybe one person with drugs, but thats a 1 in 20 ratio… they searched her because of the smell in the girls bathroom, and caught her. I believe that searching someone for stuff for a valid reason is completely okay.

By: Jesse Hernandez

Jesse Hernandez — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 22:20:01 +0000

To me, the principal was not in the wrote. They had smelled weed in the bathroom, so they a valid reason to search for paraphernalia. It it turns out that she was dealing drugs, so it proves that they searched her for a reason. Im sure that schools can search a handful of students and catch maybe one person with drugs, but thats a 1 in 20 ratio… they searched her because of the smell in the girls bathroom, and caught her. I believe that searching someone for stuff for a valid reason is completely okay.

By: Molly Lift

Molly Lift — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 22:18:36 +0000

i Belive that the school’s decision was fair, because she decided to bring her business into the school. As for something like random drug testing, i would say that would be unfair, because as long as the student does not bring illegal drugs into the school, they should be able to do whatever they like on their free time, and it shouldnt be the schools problem.

By: Blair Vidana

Blair Vidana — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 21:37:19 +0000

I agree with the courts because its the way to go to keep schools safe. Because in many schools students bring guns, knifes ,weapons or even drugs. So i think cops and other people with authority should have the right to search anyone they want in a school zone. I disagree with the kid that got mad because they search his back pack with out permission. That is because he has to remember that he is in a private property. I agree with with the medal detectors and sniffing dogs because that just might makes it easier to find things. And i do not believe that searching back packs is a violation of privacy.