Students’ Individual Rights: Safety and Privacy

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Gardner
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
School Safety ◽  
Fourth Amendment ◽  
Privacy Rights ◽  
Discipline Problems ◽  
School Officials ◽  
Privacy Concerns ◽  
Safety Issues ◽  
Student Privacy

This chapter addresses problems faced by educators attempting to provide their students with a safe and effective learning environment. Drugs and weapons in many schools pose serious safety and discipline problems, while threats of violence from sources outside the school have become increasingly serious. Educators deal with these problems while students enjoy Fourth Amendment rights. Often the privacy rights of students conflict with the interests of school officials. The task of the law is to accommodate the respective interests of educators and students. The discussion herein addresses some of these issues of student privacy and safety. The examination of school privacy focuses on the extent to which the Fourth Amendment’s protection against “unreasonable searches and seizures” applies to those attending public schools. The Fourth Amendment discussion illustrates the often-conflicting obligation of educators to keep those in their charge safe while at the same time respecting student privacy concerns. School safety interests also exist outside the context of the Fourth Amendment as illustrated by strategies to keep schools safe from threats such as those dramatically manifested by school shootings killing multiple students. Some such strategies, along with discussion of the dangers of cell phones in schools, will be reviewed in this chapter. The Fourth Amendment section considers the relevant U.S. Supreme Court decisions addressing student rights under the Fourth Amendment, as well as reviewing lower court cases treating issues left open by the Supreme Court. The chapter concludes by highlighting school safety issues not directly involving the Fourth Amendment.

A Content Analysis of Post-Jones Federal Appellate Cases

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 233-308
Author(s):  
Christopher Totten ◽  
James Purdon
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
Fourth Amendment ◽  
United States Supreme Court ◽  
The United States ◽  
United States Supreme ◽  
Privacy Rights ◽  
Appellate Courts ◽  
Legal Test

The United States Supreme Court in 2012 in United States v. Jones changed the legal test for what constitutes a police search under the Fourth Amendment. After Jones, a search occurs when: (1) an individual’s privacy rights are violated (“Katz” test); and/or (2) an individual’s property is trespassed upon (“Jones” test). From 1967 until Jones, only the Katz test was used. In light of this significant change, this study explores two questions using a content analysis approach: (1) the choice of legal test used by federal appellate courts to decide the “search” question (i.e., the Jones test, Katz test, or both tests), and (2) these courts’ holding regarding whether a “search” occurred. Most of these courts are relying upon Jones in some fashion; however, Jones has not prevented these courts from frequently applying Katz. Though reliance on Jones alone has led to uniform determinations by courts of a “search” and hence enhanced Fourth Amendment protections, overall post-Jones there are nearly an equal number of courts finding a “search” and “no search.” When courts apply Katz alone to evaluate a search, they have held no search occurred. In sum, Jones’ impact on Fourth Amendment search law has been incremental and gradual.

Dangerous Warrants

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nirej Sekhon
Keyword(s):  
Supreme Court ◽  
Fourth Amendment ◽  
Constitutional Rights ◽  
Police Discretion ◽  
Accurate Identification ◽  
Race And Class ◽  
The Supreme Court ◽  
Local Courts ◽  
State And Local ◽  
Municipal Court

The Supreme Court has cast judicial warrants as the Fourth Amendment gold standard for regulating police discretion. It has embraced a "warrant preference" on the premise that requiring police to obtain advance judicial approval for searches and seizures encourages accurate identification of evidence and suspects while minimizing interference with constitutional rights. The Court and commentators have overlooked the fact that most outstanding warrants do none of these things. Most outstanding warrants are what this article terms "non-compliance warrants": summarily issued arrest warrants for failures to comply with a court or police order. State and local courts are profligate in issuing such warrants for minor offenses. For example, the Department of Justice found that the municipal court in Ferguson, Missouri issued one warrant for every two of its residents. When issued as wantonly as this, warrants are dangerous because they generate police discretion rather than restrain it. Nonetheless, the Supreme Court has, most recently in Utah v. Strieff, treated non-compliance warrants as if no different from the traditional warrants that gave rise to the Fourth Amendment warrant preference. This article argues that non-compliance warrants pose unique dangers, constitutional and otherwise. Non-compliance warrants create powerful incentives for the police to conduct unconstitutional stops, particularly in poor and minority neighborhoods. Their enforcement also generates race and class feedback loops. Outstanding warrants beget arrests and arrests beget more warrants. Over time, this dynamic amplifies race and class disparities in criminal justice. The article concludes by prescribing a Fourth Amendment remedy to deter unconstitutional warrant checks. More importantly, the article identifies steps state and local courts might take to stem the continued proliferation of non-compliance warrants.

scholarly journals Student Speech and Social Media: The Supreme Court Finally Enters the Fray

Laws ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 19
Author(s):  
Charles J. Russo
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Public Schools ◽  
School District ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
Extracurricular Activities ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Student Speech ◽  
American Military ◽  
The Supreme Court ◽  
Cyber Speech

Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District was a watershed moment involving the First Amendment free speech rights of students in American public schools. In Tinker, the Supreme Court affirmed that absent a reasonable forecast of material and substantial disruption, educators could not discipline students who wore black arm bands to school protesting American military action in Viet Nam. Not surprisingly, litigation continues on the boundaries of student speech, coupled with the extent to which educators can limit expression on the internet, especially social media. As the Justices finally entered the fray over cyber speech, this three-part article begins by reviewing Tinker and other Supreme Court precedent on student expressive activity plus illustrative lower court cases before examining Levy v. Mahanoy Area School District. In Levy, the Court will consider whether educators could discipline a cheerleader, a student engaged in an extracurricular activity, who violated team rules by posting inappropriate off-campus messages on Snapchat. The article then offers policy suggestions for lawyers and educators when working with speech codes applicable to student use of the internet and social media by pupils involved in extracurricular activities.

scholarly journals “A Superior Kind of Working Woman”: The Contested Meaning of Vocational Education for Girls in Progressive Era Chicago

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 392-410
Author(s):  
Ruby Oram
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Vocational Education ◽  
Progressive Era ◽  
Female Students ◽  
Male Students ◽  
School Officials ◽  
History Of Capitalism ◽  
New School ◽  
Club Women ◽  
History Of

AbstractProgressive Era school officials transformed public education in American cities by teaching male students trades like foundry, carpentry, and mechanics in classrooms outfitted like factories. Historians have demonstrated how this “vocational education movement” was championed by male administrators and business leaders anxious to train the next generation of expert tradesmen. But women also hoped vocational education could prepare female students for industrial careers. In the early twentieth century, members of the National Women’s Trade Union League demanded that public schools open trade programs to female students and teach future working women the history of capitalism and the philosophy of collective bargaining. Their ambitious goals were tempered by some middle-class reformers and club women who argued vocational programs should also prepare female students for homemaking and motherhood. This article uses Chicago as a case study to explore how Progressive Era women competed and collaborated to reform vocational education for girls, and how female students responded to new school programs designed to prepare them for work both in and outside the home.

A Look Back: Church, state, and Kappan

2021 ◽  
Vol 102 (5) ◽  
pp. 5-7
Author(s):  
Teresa Preston
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
School Policy ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Religious Instruction ◽  
Look Back ◽  
Diverse World ◽  
Supreme Court Rulings ◽  
Role Of Religion

In this monthly column, Kappan managing editor Teresa Preston looks back at how the magazine has covered questions related to the role of religion in public schools. Authors considered how Supreme Court rulings affected school policy and practice, whether religious instruction is necessary for promoting positive values, and how to encourage respect in a religiously diverse world.

Moving beyond Brown: Race and Education After Parents v. Seattle School District No. 1

2011 ◽  
Vol 113 (4) ◽  
pp. 735-754 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamel K. Donnor
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
School District ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
Students Of Color ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Community Schools ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Educational Advancement ◽  
Quality Learning ◽  
The U.S

Background By a 5–4 margin, the U.S. Supreme Court in Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 declared that voluntary public school integration programs were unconstitutional. Citing the prospective harm that students and their families might incur from being denied admission to the high school of their choice, the Supreme Court declared that the plaintiffs, Parents Involved in Community Schools (PICS), had a valid claim of injury by asserting a interest in not being forced to compete for seats at certain high schools in a system that uses race as a deciding factor in many of its admissions decisions. Purpose The goal of the article is to discuss how conceptions of harm and fairness as articulated in Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 privilege the self-interests of White students and families over the educational needs of students of color. Research Design This article is a document analysis. Conclusions By referencing the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka decision of 1954 (Brown I) to buttress its decision, the U.S. Supreme Court has determined that programmatic efforts to ensure students of color access to quality learning environments are inherently ominous. The dilemma moving forward for policy makers and scholars concerned with the educational advancement of students of color is not to develop new ways to integrate America's public schools or reconcile the gaps in the Supreme Court's logic, but rather to craft programs and policies for students of color around the human development and workforce needs of the global economy.

scholarly journals Preventing School Shootings: The Interprofessional and Community Approach to Prevention

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather C Alonge ◽  
Constant P Craig
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
School Safety ◽  
National Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
School Shootings ◽  
School Level ◽  
Current Status ◽  
School Design ◽  
Safety Issues ◽  
Community Approach

This essay examined the issue of school shootings within the United States, to include a literature review and analysis of the current status of the issue on a national level. From the review and analysis, the essay provides the multidisciplines engaged in school safety issues with viable, workable, and quickly implementable solutions to address this serious national issue at the local school district and even school level of implementation. This analysis examined a multidiscipline and multiprofessional community approach using existing federal guidelines that address actionable intelligence (social media and human information/informants), school design and incorporation of safety and protective features, involvement of law enforcement on campuses, and engagement of law enforcement with administrators and educators. Most importantly, it provides awareness to educators, administrators, and law enforcement along with the general public that the attitude of “It can’t happen here” can indeed and way too many times it has “happened here.”

scholarly journals Prepaid Mobile Phone Service and the Anonymous Caller: Considering Wireless E9-1-1 in Canada.

2002 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gordon A. Gow ◽  
Mark Ihnat
Keyword(s):  
Mobile Phone ◽  
Emergency Service ◽  
Emergency Services ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Privacy Rights ◽  
Privacy Concerns ◽  
Wireless Service ◽  
Commercial Networks ◽  
Phone Service ◽  
The Right

This paper reports on a recently concluded empirical study into the development of Wireless E9-1-1 (emergency service) in Canada that initially focussed on privacy concerns raised in the context of an emerging location based service (LBS) for mobile phone users. In light of existing regulatory arrangements this paper concludes that in Canada the emerging Wireless E9-1-1 system establishes a reasonable level of protection for the privacy rights of mobile phone users who choose to contact emergency services. However, an important and surprising issue was raised in the proceedings regarding the obligation of wireless service providers offering prepaid mobile phone service to obtain verifiable subscriber records from their customers. This paper provides details regarding the issue and contributes a number of points to an emerging debate concerning the right to anonymity for customers who elect to use prepaid or other services provided over commercial networks.

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