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Show Pjc jlalt lakf tribune IMSIDE: W Soetlhi Valley Editkwni Sail Lake City, Utah Wednesday Morning Vol. 232, No. 131 restirs Brighton Out-Battle Foe. Hillerest February 5, 1986 School Role in Drug Finds Being Editorial: Crime Rise Cause for Modest Worr Re-Exami- ned By Katherine Kapos And Keri Schreiner Tribune Staff Writers science teacher picks up what he thinks is the smell of marijuana on one of his students. The principal notices a punk rocker" always arrives at school lethargic, his eyes slightly bloodshot. A counselor sees the bulge of what he suspects is a liquor flask in the coat pocket of a student. When the teachers and administrators suspect drug abuse, should the student's lockers be searched? Their book bags and purses? Their selves? And who should be told if drugs are found? Suppose the science teacher was smelling marijuana smoke from the student's friends, or the punk rocker" gets little or no sleep, and the third student is carrying a bottle of cough syrup for a cold. Do the students have a right to privacy? "Delicate and highly discretionary, the U.S Supreme Court calls such dilemmas, but they nonetheless under proare being posals to the Utah Legislature which would mandate parents be informed when drug or alcohol abuse is suspected, and allow the use ot evidence from school searches in court. The proposals present unique problems m defining under what circumstances teachers should notify parents, and because school officials can search a student's locker, purse, pack or person with less cause than a police officer . needs. Basically the idea of the bill is when a teacher suspects a student of abusing drugs that the teacher would contact the parents. Parents should know about it." said Rep Francis MerLake. rill. Both proposals, as drafted at this edition's deadline, would also protect school officials lawsuits by the stufrom invasion-of-privaedents. "House Bill 242 was intended to put into that the Supreme Court adopted providing a liability shield. If you're going to ask school people to become more active in enforcing laws, you need to assure them they will be proColumn I See SV-A lt v law-rule- Schools Need Reasonable Grounds to Search Students By Rodd G. Wagner Tribune Staff Writer Several years ago, a high school freshman was caught smoking in the girls bathroom. Ushered to the assistant vice' principal's office, she denied that she was caught smokshe even smoked ing and. in fact, denied that at all. took Suspecting her lie. the school official purse, opened it and found a the pack of cigarettes. It was at first only a relatively minor matter. a violation of school rules But when the assistant vice principal lifted the cigarettes from the girl's purse, a package of rolling the adpapers were underneath, something ministrator understood to be used for the making of marijuana cigarettes. So he took out all the belongings in the purse, proving his suspicions with a small amount of the drug, a pipe, empty plastic bags, a large amount of money in $1 bills, an index card listing other students who owed her money and two letters which showed she was dealing marijuana. Because of the search, an incident of smoking in the bathroom led to the freshman's being found delinquent by a juvenile court on a drug charge She appealed the decision through the state and federal courts The Was the search of her purse legal' case and Last year, in a vote, the U.S Supreme Court said yes. the search was legal because school officials have greater latitude than police in student by a 6-- 3 searches Yet the court also said students have a right of privacy while in school, a right not fully represented in at least one local school district's policy manual The school official in the Supreme Court case. Theodore Choplick of Ilscataway (NJ I High School, was justified in going through the belongings of the student (identified in court records only by the initials T.LO i because of his suspicions, the opinion states. The six majority justices ruled that school officials have greater authority to search students than that allowed police officers against adults or the same students out of school Before an officer can conduct a search, he must have probable cause" to believe a suspect has committed a crime But school teachers and officials need only have reasonable grounds for suspecting that the search w ill turn up evidence that the student has viola, ed or is violating either the law or the rules of the school " Because of the need for school officials to maintain order in the classroom, students are more open to searches of their lockers, their purses, book bags and persons. In particular, the justices cited drug abuse and violent crime in the schools as compelling reasons for the school s power However, the situation is not so dire that students in the schools may claim no legiti- mate expectations of privacy." Here the Supreme Court and Utah's Jordan School District seem to be in conflict That See S 2. Column I |