Policies on appropriate ways of searching people, belongings and the environment are vital. For this reason, they deserve the same professionalism and care you bring to any other part of your job. To be effective searches must be thorough, frequent and done at random times. Searches should be done in a careful, systematic fashion. Room searches, for instance, should be done without the distraction of having students present.
Personal searches are a difficult issue for most people.
Survey hospitals, correctional facilities and other treatment centers when composing your agency policies on this matter. For this reason, fire marshal inspections and safety visits by staff members from other facilities or even other agencies are useful. In general, there is no great mystery about keeping a firesafe setting or dealing with children who have started fires in the past. You simply apply the same policies and procedures you would reasonably use with any students. Most importantly, know your kids.