Opinion ID: 2219252
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Nature of the Privacy Interest.

Text: In assessing the nature of the privacy interest in this case, it is imperative to remember this controversy arose within the school context where the State is responsible for maintaining discipline, health, and safety. Earls, 536 U.S. at 830, 122 S.Ct. at 2565, 153 L.Ed.2d at 745. This reality has led the Court to acknowledge that [s]ecuring order in the school environment sometimes requires that students be subjected to greater controls than those appropriate for adults. Id. at 831, 122 S.Ct. at 2565, 153 L.Ed.2d at 745. Although this may be the case, we do not believe it can be said that students have no expectation of privacy in a school setting, particularly in a location such as a locker. [3] The determination of the existence of a legitimate expectation of privacy is based on the unique facts of each case, focusing on  ` whether the government's intrusion infringes upon the personal and societal values protected by the Fourth Amendment. '  Breuer, 577 N.W.2d at 46 (citation omitted). In T.L.O., the Court observed: Students at a minimum must bring to school not only the supplies needed for their studies, but also keys, money, and the necessaries of personal hygiene and grooming. In addition, students may carry on their persons or in purses or wallets such nondisruptive yet highly personal items as photographs, letters, and diaries. Finally, students may have perfectly legitimate reasons to carry with them articles of property needed in connection with extracurricular or recreational activities. In short, schoolchildren may find it necessary to carry with them a variety of legitimate, noncontraband items, and there is no reason to conclude that they have necessarily waived all rights to privacy in such items merely by bringing them onto school grounds. T.L.O., 469 U.S. at 339, 105 S.Ct. at 741, 83 L.Ed.2d at 733. However, the Court specifically avoided answering the question of whether a student has a legitimate expectation of privacy in lockers, desks, or other school property provided for the storage of school supplies. Id. at 337 n. 5, 105 S.Ct. at 740 n. 5, 83 L.Ed.2d at 732 n. 5. Likely due in part to the absence of an authoritative statement on this issue, various courts considering it have produced a divergence of opinion. Some courts have concluded that there is no expectation of privacy in a student locker, particularly in situations in which there exists a school or state regulation specifically disclaiming any privacy right. See In re Patrick Y., 358 Md. 50, 746 A.2d 405, 414 (2000); Shoemaker v. State, 971 S.W.2d 178, 182 (Tex.App.1998); In re Isiah B., 176 Wis.2d 639, 500 N.W.2d 637, 641 (1993); see also Zamora v. Pomeroy, 639 F.2d 662, 670-71 (10th Cir.1981); State v. Stein, 203 Kan. 638, 456 P.2d 1, 3 (1969); People v. Overton, 24 N.Y.2d 522, 301 N.Y.S.2d 479, 249 N.E.2d 366, 368 (1969). Other courts have concluded that a student does have a legitimate expectation of privacy in the contents of a school locker, even if a school or state regulation exists. See In re Interest of S.C., 583 So.2d 188, 191-92 (Miss.1991); In re Adam, 120 Ohio App.3d 364, 697 N.E.2d 1100, 1106-07 (1997); In re Dumas, 357 Pa.Super. 294, 515 A.2d 984, 985-86 (1986); see also Commonwealth v. Snyder, 413 Mass. 521, 597 N.E.2d 1363, 1366 (1992); State v. Joseph T., 175 W.Va. 598, 336 S.E.2d 728, 736 (1985); In re Isiah B., 500 N.W.2d at 648 (Bablitch, J., concurring) (Negating a constitutional `expectation' of privacy based upon whether or not a person was notified of the impending search sets a dangerous precedent for intrusions upon Fourth Amendment rights.). In this case, both Muscatine school district policy [4] and state law [5] clearly contemplate and regulate searches of school lockers. Nevertheless, we believe Jones maintained a legitimate expectation of privacy in the contents of his locker. T.L.O. involved the search of a student's purse, but a student's locker presents a similar island of privacy in an otherwise public school. See William G. Buss, The Fourth Amendment and Searches of Students in Public Schools, 59 Iowa L.Rev. 739, 773 (1974). Numerous permissible items of a private nature are secreted away within a locker on a daily basis with the expectation that those items will remain private. See id.; see also In re Adam, 697 N.E.2d at 1108; In re Dumas, 515 A.2d at 985. In fact, Muscatine's school policy effectively presumes this to be the case and protects this interest: in those situations in which the school seeks to search a locker, the school's rules contemplate the presence of the student or at least a waiver of the student's opportunity to be present and supervising the search. Moreover, the school rules and state law related to search and seizure in schools are premised on a presumption of privacy; such legislation would likely be unnecessary if no expectation of privacy existed in the first place. Each of these factors indicates a broad societal recognition of a legitimate expectation of privacy in a school locker. Accordingly, we conclude that a student such as Jones has a measure of privacy in the contents of his locker.