Opinion ID: 2570864
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Search by School Officials

Text: In a motion to suppress evidence L.A. contended that the search by the assistant school principal and the school security officer of his person, hat, and book bag constituted governmental action which violated his Fourth Amendment rights. The trial judge denied L.A.'s motion to suppress. At the hearing on a motion to suppress evidence, the State bears the burden of proving to the trial court the lawfulness of the search and seizure. Great deference is given to the factual findings of the trial court; however, the ultimate determination of the suppression of evidence is a legal question requiring independent appellate determination. State v. Vandiver, 257 Kan. 53, 57-58, 891 P.2d 350 (1995). On appeal, L.A. first asserts that the search of his pockets, book bag, and ball cap was not authorized or justified by a reasonable suspicion that contraband would be found in the search. The State admits that L.A.'s expectations of privacy are protected by the Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable searches. It agrees that in a school setting restrictions upon public authorities are subject to New Jersey v. T.L.O., 469 U.S. 325, 334, 341, 83 L. Ed.2d 720, 105 S. Ct. 733 (1985), where the United States Supreme Court found that the Fourth Amendment prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures applies to all searches conducted by public school officials. In T.L.O., two students were caught smoking in a school bathroom. The assistant principal conducted a search of T.L.O.'s purse and found a pack of cigarettes. Evidence of marijuana use was found in an initial search. A more extensive search of the purse produced marijuana. Juvenile proceedings were initiated. T.L.O. moved to suppress the evidence seized. The New Jersey juvenile court determined that although the Fourth Amendment prohibition of unreasonable searches applied to searches by school officials, since the assistant principal had a reasonable suspicion that T.L.O. possessed cigarettes, the search was not unreasonable. The New Jersey appellate division affirmed the lower court's Fourth Amendment ruling. T.L.O. appealed the denial of the motion to suppress to the New Jersey Supreme Court. That court noted that school officials were bound by the Fourth Amendment. The court determined that reasonable suspicion to search the purse was not present and suppressed the evidence. The United States Supreme Court granted certiorari. The United States Supreme Court noted that in carrying out searches and other disciplinary functions pursuant to such policies, school officials act as representatives of the State, not merely as surrogates for the parents, and they cannot claim the parents' immunity from the strictures of the Fourth Amendment. T.L.O., 469 U.S. at 336-37. It observed that to hold that the Fourth Amendment applies to searches conducted by school authorities is only to begin the inquiry into the standards governing such searches. It observed that although the underlying command of the Fourth Amendment is always that searches and seizures be reasonable, what is reasonable depends on the context within which a search takes place. The determination of the standard of reasonableness governing any specific class of searches requires balancing the need to search against the invasion which the search entails. Camara v. Municipal Court, 387 U.S. 523, 536-537, 18 L. Ed.2d 930, 87 S. Ct. 1727 (1967). On one side of the balance are arrayed the individual's legitimate expectations of privacy and personal security; on the other, the government's need for effective methods to deal with breaches of public order. T.L.O., 469 U.S. at 337. The T.L.O. Court then noted that the Fourth Amendment does not protect subjective expectations of privacy that are unreasonable or otherwise illegitimate. 469 U.S. at 338 (citing Hudson v. Palmer, 468 U.S. 517, 82 L. Ed.2d 393, 104 S. Ct. 3194 [1984]; Rawlings v. Kentucky, 448 U.S. 98, 65 L. Ed.2d 633, 100 S. Ct. 2556 [1980]). To receive the protection of the Fourth Amendment, an expectation of privacy must be one that society is prepared to recognize as legitimate. 469 U.S. at 338. It recognized that 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. 469 U.S. at 339. The T.L.O. Court acknowledged that a schoolchild's interest in privacy must be set against the substantial interest of teachers and administrators in maintaining discipline in the classroom and on school grounds. The Court noted that maintaining order in the classroom has never been easy, but in recent years, school disorder has often taken particularly ugly forms: drug use and violent crime in the schools have become major social problems. 469 U.S. at 339 (citing 1 NIE, U.S. Dept. of Health, Education, and Welfare, Violent SchoolsSafe Schools: The Safe School Study Report to the Congress [1978]). The Court pointed out that it previously had recognized that maintaining security and order in the schools requires a certain degree of flexibility in school disciplinary procedures and had respected the value of preserving the informality of the student-teacher relationship. 469 U.S. at 339-40. The T.L.O. Court stated: How, then, should we strike the balance between the schoolchild's legitimate expectations of privacy and the school's equally legitimate need to maintain an environment in which learning can take place? It is evident that the school setting requires some easing of the restrictions to which searches by public authorities are ordinarily subject. The warrant requirement, in particular, is unsuited to the school environment: requiring a teacher to obtain a warrant before searching a child suspected of an infraction of school rules (or of the criminal law) would unduly interfere with the maintenance of the swift and informal disciplinary procedures needed in the schools. 469 U.S. at 340. T.L.O. held under such circumstances school officials need not obtain a warrant before searching a student who is under their authority. The United States Supreme Court further noted that the school setting requires some modification of the level of suspicion of illicit activity needed to justify a search. The Court stated that [o]rdinarily, a searcheven one that may permissibly be carried out without a warrantmust be based upon `probable cause' to believe that a violation of the law has occurred.... However, `probable cause' is not an irreducible require ment of a valid search. The fundamental command of the Fourth Amendment is that searches and seizures be reasonable, and although `both the concept of probable cause and the requirement of a warrant bear on the reasonableness of a search, ... in certain limited circumstances neither is required.' [Citation omitted.] 469 U.S. at 340. The United States Supreme Court observed that the accommodation of the privacy interests of schoolchildren with the substantial interest of teachers and administrators in maintaining order in the schools does not require strict adherence to the requirement that searches be based on probable cause to believe that the subject of the search has violated or is violating the law. Rather, the legality of a search of a student depends simply on the reasonableness, under all the circumstances, of the search. In a plurality opinion, the Supreme Court set out a two-part test for determining the reasonableness of any search: First, one must consider `whether the ... action was justified at its inception,' [citation omitted]; second, one must determine whether the search as actually conducted `was reasonably related in scope to the circumstances which justified the interference in the first place.' 469 U.S. at 341-42 (quoting Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 20, 20 L. Ed.2d 889, 88 S. Ct. 1868 [1968]). The Court held that under ordinary circumstances, a search of a student by a teacher or other school official will be `justified at its inception' when there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that the search will turn up evidence that the student has violated or is violating either the law or the rules of the school. Such a search will be permissible in its scope when the measures adopted are reasonably related to the objectives of the search and not excessively intrusive in light of the age and sex of the student and the nature of the infraction. 469 U.S. at 341-42. The Court determined that the search of T.L.O. by school officials was justified at its inception. Since the scope of the search was reasonably related to the circumstances which justified the initial interference, the Court found that the search of T.L.O. was reasonable. 469 U.S. at 347. Since T.L.O. was decided, state and lower federal courts have applied the federal reasonable suspicion standard to school searches. See, e.g., State v. Serna, 176 Ariz. 267, 860 P.2d 1320 (1993); People in Interest of P.E.A., 754 P.2d 382 (Colo. 1988); Martens v. District No. 220, Bd. of Educ., 620 F. Supp. 29 (N.D. Ill 1985);. In Martens, an anonymous phone tip informed the dean of students that Martens had sold marijuana in the school. Martens was brought to the principal's office and held 45 minutes for questioning. A police officer, at the school on other business, convinced Martens to empty his pockets, and a pipe with marijuana residue was discovered. Applying the T.L.O. test, the court found reasonable suspicion based on the anonymous phone tip and the substantial drug problem faced by the school. 620 F. Supp. at 32. In P.E.A., a police officer was given a tip by a youngster that two students were planning to sell marijuana at a high school. The police officer immediately informed the principal of the planned drug sale. An extensive search was then conducted of the two individuals, which turned up nothing. Upon further investigation, the school officials learned that one of the individuals rode to school with P.E.A. Following an unproductive search of P.E.A. and two other individuals suspected of possessing drugs, a school security officer conducted a search of P.E.A.'s car in the school's parking lot. The search turned up a substantial amount of marijuana. The Colorado Supreme Court applied the T.L.O. reasonableness standard and held that the school officials were justified in searching the car and that the scope of the search was reasonably related to the objectives of the search. P.E.A., 754 P.2d at 388-89. Here, in evaluating the reasonableness of the search where without a Miranda warning L.A. was required to remove the items from his pockets, marijuana was taken from his cap, and Valium was found in his book bag, we must first consider whether the search was justified at its inception. The school authorities' suspicion that L.A. possessed contraband was initiated by a student tip to the school's Crime Stoppers organizer. The tip contained information that L.A. carried the contraband in the band of his cap. Information provided by an informant can serve as a basis for a reasonable suspicion that a student may be engaged in illegal activity. See, e.g., In re Corey L., 203 Cal. App.3d 1020, 250 Cal. Rptr. 359 (1988) (report of student that the accused student possessed cocaine was found to be basis for reasonable suspicion); Edwards For and In Behalf of Edwards v. Rees, 883 F.2d 882, 884 (10th Cir. 1989) (42 U.S.C. § 1983 lawsuit where court applied T.L.O. factors, and two students implicating another student in bomb threat found to be basis for reasonable suspicion to seize suspected student for questioning). When Schmidt found L.A. and brought him to the assistant vice principal's office, L.A. was in possession of a ball cap and book bag. We find that the tip by a student to the Crime Stoppers organizer was the basis of reasonable suspicion. The second inquiry is whether the search conducted by school officials was reasonably related to the circumstances which justified the initial interference. We conclude that the search of L.A. was based on reasonable suspicion in that the search was conducted after school officials received a tip stating that L.A. was carrying contraband in the headband of his cap, and the scope of the search was within reasonable limits suggested by the tip. The trial judge did not err in denying L.A.'s motion to suppress the evidence found in the search. L.A. also raises the issue of whether his mother could effectively waive his right to freedom from unreasonable searches. Because the search of L.A. was not unreasonable, the consent of L.A.'s parent was not necessary to satisfy constitutional standards.