Can I get searched at school?

Here’s what you need to know about your privacy rights and how searches work at school:

What School Officials Can Do

School officials, like your principal or teachers, can search you or your belongings if they have a good reason to believe they might find something dangerous or against school rules, like drugs or weapons. Here’s what they’re allowed to do:

• Pat-Down Searches: If they suspect you have something you shouldn’t, they can pat down your clothing
• Locker Searches: They can check your locker since it’s considered school property.
• Bag Searches: They can look through your backpack or other bags if they think there’s something dangerous inside.

These searches must be done in a way that isn’t too invasive, but they do have the authority to search if they have reasonable suspicion.

When the Police Are Involved

When it comes to the police, the rules are stricter. Police need stronger reasons to search you or your belongings at school. Here’s how it works:

• Reasonable and Probable Grounds: Police need to have a solid reason to believe they will find something illegal, not just a hunch. This is a higher standard than the one for school officials.
• No Random Searches: The police can’t search students or the school randomly or just because it’s convenient. They need specific reasons.
• Using Sniffer Dogs: If police use dogs to sniff for drugs, they need to suspect a particular person or bag, not just use the dogs to search everyone.