| New Albany - Plain Local School District |
| Administrative Guidelines |
5771 - SEARCH AND SEIZURE
Pursuant to Board of Education Policy 5771, the following guidelines shall be used when school administrators have reason to suspect that an illegal or dangerous substance or object or stolen property may be in the possession of a student:
| A. | All requests or suggestions for the search of a student or his/her possessions shall be directed to the principal or the person in charge of the students while out of the District. | |
| B. | Wherever possible, an adult third party shall be present at any search of a student or his/her possessions. | |
| C. | The principal may conduct a student search upon reasonable suspicion to suspect the presence of an illegal or dangerous substance or object, or anything contraband under school rules. | |
| D. | The principal shall be responsible for the custody, control, and disposition of any illegal or dangerous substance or object taken from a student, whether during a student search or otherwise. | |
| E. | The principal shall be responsible for the prompt recording of each student search. The record shall be in writing and shall include the reasons for the search, the persons present, the objects found, and the disposition made of them. The record shall be kept in a secure location in the principal’s office. |
Reasonable Suspicion
As used in this section, "reasonable suspicion for a search" means grounds sufficient to cause an adult of normal intellect to believe that the search of a particular person, place, or thing will lead to the discovery of evidence that the student:
| A. | has violated or is violating a rule or behavioral norm contained in the student handbook; | |
| B. | has violated or is violating a particular law; | |
| C. | possesses an item or substance which presents an immediate danger of physical harm or illness to students and staff or District property. |
Lockers and Other Storage Areas Provided for Student Use
| A. | All lockers and other storage areas provided for student use remain the property of the District. These lockers and storage areas are subject to inspection, access for maintenance, and search pursuant to these guidelines. A student using the locker or storage area has, by statute, no expectation of privacy in that locker or storage area or the contents contained therein. No student shall lock or otherwise impede access to any locker or storage area except with a lock provided by or approved by the principal. Unapproved locks will be removed and destroyed. | |
| B. | The principal may search student lockers and storage areas and the contents contained therein at any time for any justifiable reason. | |
| C. | The principal may, at any time, request assistance of the appropriate law enforcement agency having jurisdiction over the facilities of the District. The law enforcement officer must have probable cause, however, to conduct a search of the lockers and storage areas and the contents contained therein. |
Desks and Other Storage Areas
A desk or any other storage area in the school provided for student use as well as the contents contained therein, may be searched when the principal has reasonable suspicion for a search.
Vehicles
| A. | Any vehicle brought on District premises by a student may be searched when the principal has reasonable suspicion to justify the search. | |
| B. | One of the conditions for granting permission for a student to bring a student-operated vehicle onto school premises is written consent by the student driver, the owner of the vehicle, and the parent of the student to allow search of that vehicle. Refusal by any of the parties to provide or allow access to a vehicle at the time of a search request shall be cause for terminating the privilege without further hearing. | |
| C. | Searches of vehicles of staff members or visitors shall be conducted by law enforcement personnel. |
Student
| A. | The personal search of a student may be conducted by the principal when s/he has reasonable suspicion for a search of that student. Authorized searches of the student's person are: |
| 1. | the student's pockets; | ||
| 2. | purses, briefcases, or any other object in the possession of the student; | ||
| 3. | removal of an article of exterior clothing such as a jacket. |
| B. | Strip searches are to be conducted only by law enforcement personnel. | |
| C. | Personal searches shall be conducted in a private room by a person of the same gender as the student and designated by the principal. At least one (1) but not more than three (3) additional staff members of the same gender as the student being searched shall witness but not participate in the search. | |
| At the request of the student to be searched, an additional person of the same gender as the student designated by the student, and then reasonably available on school premises, shall witness the search. The student's parents shall be notified of the search as soon as reasonably possible. |
Method of Search
The scope of any search should be limited by the reasonable suspicion that motivated the search. If an item is found that leads to reasonable suspicion that additional, correlated items may also exist, the search may be extended. If the initial search produces no evidence of contraband, there should be no extension of the search based on simple curiosity.
Items Found
Anything found in the course of a search which is evidence of a student violation of school rules or Federal/State laws may be:
| A. | seized and admitted as evidence in any suspension or expulsion proceeding if it is tagged for identification at the time it is seized and kept in a secure place by the principal until it is presented at the hearing. | |
| B. | turned over to any law enforcement officer after proper notation and receipt. |
Revised 12/94
Reviewed 10/98