Public vs. Private School Protections
When assessing the rights you do and don’t have in school, one of the most important distinctions to make is whether your school is public or private. Students’ rights in these spaces can be drastically different.
What’s the big deal?
Unlike public schools, which are funded and operated by the government and bound by the Constitution, private schools are private entities. Therefore, many Bill of Rights protections may not apply for a private school student. Instead, protections are laid out in contract law, civil rights laws, and state regulations.
Regardless of whether your school is private or public, it has to follow federal civil rights laws, meaning that they cannot discriminate on the basis of race, color, or national origin.
Private schools still have limits…
Regarding disability accommodations, private schools are bound by the Americans with Disabilities Act, which requires them to provide reasonable accommodations and equal access to education.
Due to the general inapplicability of Constitutional protections on private schools, the rest of this location will generally be referring to public schools.
For private school students, to determine exactly what your school is permitted to do, look to enrollment contracts and student handbooks, which vary largely by school.
Privacy
While the Fourth Amendment–which protects from unreasonable searches and seizures by the government–applies to searches conducted by school officials in a school setting, the procedures that school officials have to follow are notably different than those of police officers.
For example, school officials do not need to have probable cause nor obtain a warrant before searching a student. Instead, in order for a search to be justified, the school official must have reasonable suspicion that the student had violated either the law or school rules.
General Searches
In Florida, the principal or a school employee designated by the principal can, if they have reasonable suspicion that a prohibited or illegally possessed substance or object is contained within a student’s locker or other storage area, search the area.
Any search of a student’s personal belongings must be conducted discreetly and without violating the privacy of those personal belongings. Personal items that are not prohibited on school grounds must be immediately returned to the student’s personal belongings.
Special Searches
Special searches, like those done by metal detectors and specially trained animals, are often left to be decided on by individual school districts, where policies vary heavily by location.
For example, while Broward County uses walk-through metal detectors at all high school entry points, Miami-Dade County prioritizes artificial intelligence-based camera systems to detect concealed weapons along with random wand screenings.
To learn more about how metal detectors and specially trained animals can affect your location specifically, research your specific county and how it implements security screenings in schools.
Metal Detectors and Animals
Police officers generally require a warrant to search a cell phone, but this standard doesn’t usually apply to school administrators. Instead, school officials can search a student’s phone when they have reasonable suspicion and when the search itself is reasonable in scope.
To make this determination, the search must be justified at its inception (meaning it must be reasonable for them to suspect there would be evidence of prohibited or illegal activity on the electronic) and must be reasonably related to the suspected violation.
For example, just because a school official is searching through group chat messages for evidence of bullying does not mean that they have the authority to go through the hidden album in your camera roll when nothing indicates that additional evidence would arise from it.
Cell Phones
GOOD TO KNOW
When using a school-issued device, such as a laptop or tablet, the district can install monitoring software that tracks your activity on any network, even while you’re at home!
When you use a personal device on school wifi, they have the ability to see the domains you connect to and the apps you use.
This all means that when using a school-issued device or a personal device connected to school wifi, you generally do not have privacy protections.
Because of the private and intrusive nature of strip searches, they cannot be evaluated in the same nature as other, less intrusive searches.
In order for such a search to occur, school officials must have specific evidence that the contraband being searched for is hidden in the areas that would be revealed by a strip search, and that the contraband presents a danger.
Searches cannot be excessively intrusive when considering the age and sex of the student and the nature of the infraction.
Strip Searches
Freedom of Expression
Expression at school
Students maintain their First Amendment right to freedom of speech or expression in schools. This means that the Constitution protects your right to express yourself and your opinions in whichever way you choose.
Because this freedom is such a fundamental right (clearly demonstrated in that it was included in the very first amendment to our Constitution), in order for any speech to be justifiably suppressed, school officials must be able to prove that the conduct in question would materially and substantially interfere with the operation of the school.
For example, a shirt which says that our government is made up of squirrels in trench coats cannot be suppressed. On the other hand, a colorful hat which extends 3 feet off of the wearer’s head and blocks the view of other students could be regulated.
The Pledge of Allegiance
Freedom of expression doesn’t only encompass what you wear or how you choose to present. It also means that you cannot be forced to salute the flag. Your right to stay seated and silent during the Pledge is also protected by the First Amendment, and you cannot be punished for choosing to do so.
Off campus speech
Though public schools may regulate some student speech, it must fall into one of five categories: (1) lewd or vulgar speech on school grounds, (2) speech promoting illicit drug use during a school event or trip, (3) speech that others may believe represents the school itself, such as a school newspaper, (4) speech that materially disrupts class, and (5) speech that invades the rights of others.
Off-campus speech which does not fall into one of these categories is generally not up to the regulation of the school. Instead, this speech usually falls within the guardian's responsibility.
It’s important to note that some speech might unexpectedly fall into one of those five categories. An example of this could be threats of violence, which of course disrupt class. Additionally, cyberbullying is a big deal when brought to the attention of school officials, and is regulatable as it is also a substantial disruption. When engaging online, it’s important to always remember that what you say and do will always be attached to you. If you wouldn’t say something in real life, it’s generally best not to say it on the internet either.
What you post on your own time, on your own device, not on school property, is usually not the school’s business. As a result, they cannot regulate it.
Questions?
Think you have it all figured out?