Park City School’s ‘Student Search Policy’ is concerning

In Tuesday’s Park City School Board meeting, the school board approved changes to Policy 10080 – Student Search Policy without any discussion. The changes are generally about e-cigarettes, metal detectors, and who can perform a search. However, it presents a good opportunity to discuss whether the policy is valid.

Unfortunately, the school board had no discussion.

One of the interesting things you’ll find as you follow local cities, counties, and school is they are always governed by a higher power. In the case of our schools, that higher power is the Utah State Board of Education (USBOE). While the Park City School District has a policy on searching students, the USBOE has a policy that defines what local schools should do. The differences between PCSD’s policy and the USBOE are concerning — especially when it comes to a topic like students’ privacy.

Let’s talk about some of the important pieces two policies. In the Park City policy it says:

• Students have the right to be free from unreasonable searches
• School district Administrators or their designees have the right to search students, their property, their vehicles, and their locker
• They can perform a search when there is “reasonable suspicion” of violation of policy, law, etc.
• They then say “Reasonable suspicion requires school personnel to be able to articulate the facts and inferences that led them to believe that a student had violated the law or school policy.”
• When a search is performed, a school administrator must be present.
• Immediately after a search, parents must be notified.
• Student cellphones and devices can be searched.

The USBOE policy states:

• To be reasonable, the USBOE says a search must be justified at its inception. In other words, to begin the search a school official must have reasonable grounds for expecting that the search will turn up evidence that the student has violated the law or rules of the school.
• USBOE defines who should search a student. They say, “An appropriate school official should search a student depending upon type and circumstances of search. For instance, if a more intrusive search of a student is anticipated, a higher level school official should search the student. A younger student should be searched by a familiar school employee. Generally, male employees should search male students and female employees should search female students. Typically, a single school official should not search a student. It is preferable to have two school officials or employees involved with search. Too many employees could be seen as intimidation.”
• USBOE further delineates searches performed by school resource officers and other law enforcement agents. If a resource officer is involved, the student must read their Miranda Rights before conducting a search. If a resource officer is involved the reason for the search is not only “reasonable suspicion” but also includes “probable cause”. They note “probable cause is more than a bare suspicion, but less than evidence that would justify a conviction.” It is the legal definition that all law enforcement has to follow and has more requirements than “reasonable suspicion”
• USBOE states that “A request to search is not a search. No justification is needed for a school person to ask a student for permission to search student’s property–so long as the person recognizes she is free to refuse to consent.” This means that a student can refuse a request to search but if they consent, then there is no contemplation of a student’s 4th Amendment rights.
• USBOE says, “School officials have no obligation to contact parents before detaining and questioning students. “