Law & Courts

Classrooms’ Contraband Searches Violate Rights, Appeals Court Says

By Andrew Trotter — September 28, 2004 2 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

An Arkansas school district’s practice of searching the pockets, purses, and backpacks of randomly selected classrooms of students for drugs and other contraband violates students’ right to privacy, a federal appeals court has ruled.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit, in St. Louis, ruled that the Little Rock district’s practice of requiring entire classrooms to submit to the searches violated the Fourth Amendment right of its 7th graders to be free from unreasonable searches.

The practice was challenged in a lawsuit brought on behalf of a student identified in court papers as Jane Doe, who during the 1999-2000 school year, along with her classmates, was ordered to leave the classroom after emptying their pockets and placing their belongings, including backpacks and purses, on their desks.

While the students waited in the hallway, school personnel searched their belongings, including Jane Doe’s purse, in which they discovered a container of marijuana. School officials turned the drug over to police, and the girl was convicted of a misdemeanor. The school wasn’t identified in court papers.

A federal district judge in Little Rock ruled the search constitutional last year, but the 8th Circuit court panel reversed the decision Aug. 18, with one judge partially dissenting.

“Students often carry items of a personal or private nature in their pockets and bags, and many students (whether or not they are carrying contraband) must surely feel uncomfortable or embarrassed when officials decide to rifle through their personal belongings,” U.S. Circuit Judge Morris Sheppard Arnold wrote in the majority opinion.

The 25,000-student district failed to present evidence of an urgent problem with weapons or drugs in its schools, or cause to believe that the students who were to be searched were carrying such contraband, the opinion said.

The opinion noted that the students were legally compelled to attend school and had not accepted a lowered standard of privacy—for example, as a condition of participation in interscholastic sports or academic teams.

Search Methods Differ

Other school search techniques generally upheld by the courts, such as metal detectors and drug-sniffing dogs, are not as intrusive as “people rummaging through personal belongings concealed within a container,” Judge Arnold wrote.

U.S. Circuit Judge C. Arlen Beam said he agreed that the search of Jane Doe violated her rights, but that he did not agree with the majority that the district’s search policy should be broadly struck down. He said the suspicionless searches might pass muster if the district did not turn violators over to the police.

The 8th Circuit covers Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

The Little Rock district no longer conducts searches in the manner described in the lawsuit, according to Suellen Vann, its director of communications.

“We don’t go into containers and bags,” Ms. Vann said last week.

She said no decision had been made about whether the district would appeal.

Related Tags:

A version of this article appeared in the September 01, 2004 edition of Education Week as Classrooms’ Contraband Searches Violate Rights, Appeals Court Says

Events

Artificial Intelligence K-12 Essentials Forum How AI Use Is Expanding in K-12 Schools
Join this free virtual event to explore how AI technology is—and is not—improving K-12 teaching and learning.
Federal Webinar The Trump Budget and Schools: Subscriber Exclusive Quick Hit
EdWeek subscribers, join this 30-minute webinar to find out what the latest federal policy changes mean for K-12 education.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Curriculum Webinar
End Student Boredom: K-12 Publisher's Guide to 70% Engagement Boost
Calling all K-12 Publishers! Student engagement flatlining? Learn how to boost it by up to 70%.
Content provided by KITABOO

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Law & Courts Opinion What the Supreme Court Case on LGBTQ+ Books Reminds Us About Parents’ Rights
Regardless of which side wins Mahmoud v. Taylor, we have a big problem.
Jamie Kudlats & Christopher D. Thomas
5 min read
Man and woman waiting around speech bubble hole
E+/Getty
Law & Courts Retired Justice Souter, Advocate for Civics and Church-State Split, Dies at 85
Retired Justice David Souter, who wrote Supreme Court opinions on student strip searches and government aid to religion, has died.
4 min read
Retired Supreme Court Justice David Souter smiles during a new lecture series titled, "Constitutionally Speaking" on Sept. 14, 2012 in Concord, N.H. Souter spoke to more than 1,300 who packed a small theater to hear him.
Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter, pictured participating a Sept. 14, 2012, lecture series on the U.S. Constitution in Concord, N.H., died May 8, 2025.
Jim Cole/AP
Law & Courts Trump Admin. Ends a Decades-Old School Desegregation Order—And Expects to End Others
Officials suggested that other desegregation orders dating to the Civil Rights Movement should be reconsidered.
5 min read
Students from Charlotte High School in Charlotte, N.C., ride a bus together, May 15, 1972.
Students from Charlotte High School in Charlotte, N.C., ride a bus together on May 15, 1972.
Harold L. Valentine/AP
Law & Courts Supreme Court Appears Open to Religious Charter School
The U.S. Supreme Court grappled with whether charter schools are public schools and whether the Constitution permits a religious charter.
7 min read
Supporters of charter schools rally outside of the Supreme Court on April 30, 2025, in Washington.
Supporters of religious charter schools rally outside of the U.S. Supreme Court on April 30, 2025, in Washington.
Mark Schiefelbein/AP