Searches Of Underclothing At School Are Illegal
By Michelle Ball, California Education Attorney for Students since 1995 Most parents will never have much involvement with the drama of school expulsions, heavy allegations against their kids, nor the shock of hearing their child had something improper at school hidden in their pocket. Occasionally, however, there are horror stories involving searches by school officials looking for alleged contraband which go way too far. In the infamous case Safford v. Redding, the United States Supreme Court found a school strip search of an Arizona eighth grader in violation of the student's Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure. The Court in Safford , however, left some questions open for Arizona, such as whether a strip search could proceed with a specific allegation of a dangerous object being in e.g. underwear. However, California had already answered this question prior to Safford, strictly prohibiting searches ...