SCHOOL-ISSUED LAPTOPS BEGIN TO RAISE PRIVACY, FIRST AMENDMENT QUESTIONS

There have always been conflicts between the rights of schools and
students' First Amendment rights.

Beginning with the court case Tinker v. Des Moines, the Supreme Court
decided that students don't lose their First Amendment rights simply
by walking through their schoolhouse doors.

Since that decision in 1969 though, many other court cases have
occurred that seek to limit students' freedoms. New Jersey v. T.L.O
set the precedent that students have less privacy in schools. The
Board of Education of Independent School District No. 92 of
Pottawatomie County v. Earls set the precedent that random drug
testing of students involved in extracurricular activities does not
violate the Fourth Amendment.

People have regularly questioned what role the school has to limit
the rights of students while in school or during a school-related
activity. It has rarely been questioned what role the school has to
limit the rights of students while in their own homes - until now.

The Lower Merion school district in Pennsylvania is an area affluent
enough to be able to issue all of its high school students laptops.
In all, it provided laptops to about 2,300 students.

Blake Robbins, a high school sophomore, was issued a laptop by his
school. He claims an assistant vice principal from the school took
advantage of the camera embedded in the device to monitor his
activity at home. The lawsuit claims assistant vice principal called
in Robbins in to discuss "improper behavior" at home, citing pictures
obtained from the school-issued laptop. Robbins said officials
mistook candy for pills and thought he was selling drugs.

The school's officials admitted to using the webcams to find 42
alleged missing laptops. They did this without the knowledge of the
students or their families.

There have been other cases of schools trying to stretch their
authority, without educational purposes, beyond the schoolhouse doors
and into the homes of students. Last week, a high school student in
Chicago was suspended for creating a Facebook fan page for students
titled "anyone who has had a bad experience with or plain dislikes" a
particular faculty member, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

On school grounds it makes sense the administration should be able to
limit the rights of the students while at school, but once the
student exits the school building, parenting should be left to the
guardians of students. Some claims have been made that justify the
school's action by saying the school has the right to act "in loco
parentis," or in place of the parents. Public school teachers are
employees of the government and by entering the personal abodes of
students, they are violating the Fourth Amendment, not serving the
greater good by providing extra parental care.

A district spokesman for Lower Merion school district said only two
employees in the technology department have access to activate the
webcams, and they had limitations. They could only access webcams to
locate missing laptops and the remote activations could only capture
images, not record sound. The potential for abuse, even with these
limitations, is endless. Many teenagers keep their laptops in their
rooms. The fine line between a professional and unprofessional
relationship with a student and school officials gets blurred if
school officials can see into students' rooms and have authority over
what students do in their own homes. Many students have admitted to
now covering up their webcams with tape to prevent this from happening.

If students are expected to surrender their rights as they enter the
school, teachers should surrender their control as students exit the school.