Pubdate: Sun, 24 May 2015
Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC)
Copyright: 2015 Times Colonist
Contact: http://www2.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/letters.html
Website: http://www.timescolonist.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/481
Author: Geoff Johnson
Note: Geoff Johnson is a retired superintendent of schools.
Page: A10

SCHOOLS HAVE FAIRLY BROAD LATITUDE IN SEARCHES

The school officials who authorized the strip-search of a 15-year-old 
female student at a Quebec City school demonstrated an egregious lack 
of judgment and no knowledge of the applicable laws.

Of all the jobs educators can take on during a career, being in 
charge of a school is, in my opinion, the most demanding.

A school is a reflection of its community. That's not just some 
bromide dreamed up by an educational theorist. It is a fact.

If there are drug-related problems in a community, there will be 
drug-related problems in the school. The same applies to problems 
involving violence, weapons, racial tension, even the degree to which 
public education is valued.

Parents who entrust their offspring to the school system have a right 
to expect that school officials will act as "kind, firm and 
judicious" alternative parents.

That includes expecting that the school will take the necessary steps 
within the law to protect their children from the least desirable 
influences of the community.

For that reason, the schools cannot be allowed to become a safe haven 
for activities that, if conducted in the street, would probably 
result in arrest and conviction.

Recognizing this, the Supreme Court in 1997 in a precedent-setting 
case called MRM, acknowledged that teachers and principals must be 
able to react quickly to problems that arise in schools and, hence, 
should have greater search powers than those enjoyed by the police.

In MRM, a junior high school vice-principal believed that MRM was 
selling drugs on school property and also received specific 
information from a the student informant that MRM would be carrying 
drugs to a school dance.

The vice-principal found a bag of marijuana hidden in MRM's sock. The 
student was then arrested and charged with possession.

The trial judge excluded the evidence that had been found in the 
search because, in his opinion, the vice-principal had violated MRM's 
right to be secure against "unreasonable search and seizure" as 
granted by Section 8 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

This finding was ultimately overturned by the Supreme Court.

In disposing of the case, the Supreme Court established general 
guidelines for "body searches" of students. It said that a body 
search could be justified by information received from one student 
considered to be credible.

Searches could also be justified on the basis of credible, 
trustworthy information received from more than one student or a 
teacher's or principal's own observations.

Absent those conditions, it is likely, according to legal experts, 
that the courts would toss out any evidence seized without cause.

The Supreme Court, in another case referred to as AM, also said that 
courts should generally defer to the judgment of teachers and 
principals in determining whether there was sufficient evidence of 
wrongdoing to justify a search.

A school official who acts within the authority granted by the 
relevant education statute can search a student without a warrant, 
given the general conditions described above.

That authority, however, does not include strip-searches, which might 
be permitted during a properly conducted police investigation.

Searches of school lockers conducted by school-board officials also 
continue to be subject to different rules than govern police 
investigations, and courts have found that, in this case, school 
boards do have significantly greater latitude to conduct such 
searches than police.

Generally, school lockers are the property of the school board and 
are used by the students only with the permission of the school.

Schools are advised to inform each student of the school's right to 
search lockers (including removal of locks) and should have 
appropriate policies in place that are communicated to students, so 
that the students have a reduced expectation of privacy.

What is not permissible are "shotgun" searches, that is to say, 
searches based on general suspicion resulting in a search of every 
student's bag or locker without any specific evidence.

Boards and their officials, in order to ensure their searches are 
lawful, must establish and publish policies that clearly communicate 
the kinds of searches that principals may conduct and the conditions 
that principals will abide by in conducting such searches.

A little knowledge about all this could have saved those Quebec 
officials a world of trouble.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom