STUDENTS' RIGHTS VS. SAFETY

Area Student Joins National Debate And Questions Need For Campus Sweeps And
Student Searches

The intercom sounds just as the morning chatter starts to die down and
students prepare for first period to begin.

But the announcement students hear is not a morning greeting, the lunch
menu, or even the flag salute. It's the principal announcing that the
school is on lockdown and all students should remain in their classrooms.

Drug sniffing dogs and deputy sheriffs are on hand and soon the campus,
cars and lockers will be searched.

Bryant Courtney, a South Effingham High School sophomore last academic
year, was shocked at the way his classmates lined up and turned out their
pockets without question during a random drug search. Even students who had
been through civics class and memorized the preamble and the Constitution
never raised an eyebrow, he said.

"Most students have had a citizenship class but frankly I think they're
used to their rights being violated," Courtney said.

Frustrated, Courtney researched the law and found that his Fourth Amendment
rights as a student were not the same as his Fourth Amendment rights as a
citizen.

In an era of school shootings and casual teen drug use, drug searches and
zero-tolerance policies have been implemented in the nation's schools to
achieve safe, drug-free environments. However some basic freedoms were
sacrificed in the process.

In the name of safety

State, local and some federal laws stemming back to the late 1960s have
made it increasingly possible for schools to limit student rights for the
purpose of increasing student safety, according to the ERIC Clearinghouse
on Urban Education at Columbia University.

The degree of protection a student has under the Fourth Amendment was
determined by a 1985 case involving a high school girl who was accused of
breaking her school's smoking rule. When she was searched officials found
not only cigarettes, but evidence that she sold drugs on campus.

In this case, New Jersey v. T.L.O, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that
students are protected by the Fourth Amendment during school searches.

But there is no need for a warrant if school officials have "reasonable
grounds for suspecting that the search turn up evidence that the student
has violated or is violating either the law or the rules of the school."

The extent of the search should be conducted with the objectives of the
search, the student's age and sex and the nature of the infraction in mind,
according to the ruling. Later case law made it possible for school
officials to consider a student's school record and history when justifying
a search.

In some states, strip searches are allowed in schools. They are supposed to
be conducted only in extreme cases, where there is well-informed suspicion
of a specific individual and the immediate safety of other students. Some
schools have gone as far as requiring students and athletes to take drug
tests to prevent drug use in their schools. However, that practice has been
contested and will be heard by the U.S. Supreme court before their term
ends this month.

"They can't do this to any other group of people," Courtney said. "A safe
school shouldn't supersede a student's rights."

Deputy Varnard Reese, South Effingham County Sheriff's Deputy and School
Resource Officer said the searches he conducts in South Effingham's middle
and high schools may seem like a nuisance or an infringement to some, but
consider the alternative.

"It's a trade off," Reese said. "They give up those freedoms to ensure
their safety."

Reese determines the random dates when the drug searches will take place.
The school principal isn't even informed until he and a Chatham County K-9
unit are on their way. He typically schedules two each school year in each
of the middle and high schools.

Teams consisting of two deputies, one school administrator, a dog handler
and a drug dog sweep, parking lots, restrooms, lockers, hallways an classrooms.

The dogs are used to sniff out illegal drugs in the building while deputies
wave hand-held metal detectors over each student to check for weapons.

When illegal drugs, alcohol, drug paraphernalia or weapons are found
students are taken to the office where administrators weigh the severity of
the evidence to determine whether to punish the student in school or have
them arrested.

Even prescription drugs are a no-no.

"We have a lot of kids stealing prescription drugs from their parents and
grandparents -- we even had one kid who stole drugs belonging to a deceased
parent," Reese said. "They know what they can take to get high."

Favorites include Ritalin a behavior modification drug commonly used for
attention-deficit children and a central nervous system depressant and
powerful prescription painkiller called Oxycontin, according to Reese.

If he were policing the street, Reese said he would never be able to search
someone without a warrant, but search laws were softened in the schools as
a way to prevent crime and he rarely hears complaints.

"The parents support it and the kids do too, they don't want these things
in their schools," Reese said.

But the nation's stance on school safety created a situation in which
Courtney began to feel as if he were walking into the realm of Big Brother
every time went to school.

Graham Boyd, Director of the American Civil Liberties Union Drug Policy
Litigation Project said schools are allowed to bring in drug dogs to search
lockers and cars but not the students themselves. And because lockers are
school property, they have the legal right to open and search them at will.

However students still have some right to privacy on campus.

"They can't go up and down the rows in a classroom with the dogs sniffing
at the students," he said.

And in cases when money goes missing, school officials should have reason
to suspect that particular individuals are in possession of the missing or
stolen items. Then they should only conduct a search of those individuals.

"You can't just round up people and say hey, I don't know if you have
anything on you but I want to search you all just to make sure," Boyd said.

Reese said school administrators make the call on searches for lost or
stolen money or for reports of weapons or drugs. The South Effingham High
School Principal and the school superintendent did not respond to calls for
comment.

Safety vs. student rights

Out of frustration Courtney said he tried to give students a voice by
publishing a student newspaper and even ran for student government
proposing a Student's Bill of Rights. During the campaign he posted his
bill of rights on campus before first period. He said it called for
administrators to change policy to be more respectful of student's rights,
including obtaining warrants before searching students.

Courtney said he soon realized that he didn't have the support of the
school's teachers and administrators and decided to drop out of the race.

Unable to create changes on his campus, Courtney joined a national student
rights organization called the National Student Advocacy Alliance and has
worked with the other student organizers throughout the country to start a
national student political movement. The National Student Advocacy Alliance
is a student-led organization designed to promote student rights and
political power and dedicated to the promotion of policy that is fair to
young people.

The strict code of conduct developed by the Savannah Chatham County School
Board may seem unfair to some Savannah students, but board members feel
their tough disciplinary policies are more than justified.

Since 1996 three young lives have been lost in violent gun episodes on and
around Savannah's school grounds. To the board, preventative measures like
metal detectors, occasional searches, see-through bags and the removal of
lockers seem like a small price to pay.

"Students view it as a hassle," Savannah-Chatham County Schools Board
Member Lori Brady. "But we've had a child killed in our schools."

Brady said students need to understand that school administrators have
struggled to come up with the best options for maintaining a safe, drug-
and crime-free environment in schools.

"It's unfortunate that we're in an era where we have to do this," she said.
"But that student sitting next to you in class could have a gun in his
pocket and searches are the best way we can prevent that. The bottom line
is safety."

School searches and sweeps sometimes turn up seemingly innocent items, such
as a metal nail file tucked away in a make-up bag or a forgotten kitchen
knife in the back of the messy family station wagon. But under school
policy those items are illegal contraband and a student who brings them to
school could be subject to suspension, expulsion and even arrest. There
have been several cases throughout the country, and even in Savannah, when
a student with innocent intentions is found guilty under zero tolerance rules.

Georgia School Superintendent Association, Executive Director Herb Garret
said zero-tolerance policies can become a nightmare for school administrators.

"Most of these policies are a reaction to incidents of drugs and crime. It
became a national phenomenon -- no tolerance for drugs, no tolerance for
severe discipline problems," he said. "But they sometimes remove the
ability to treat each situation on its own merit."

In 2000 a Jenkins High School junior named Brian Agnew was suspended when
an anonymous tip led school authorities to a knife, ax and cell phone used
for Boy Scouting that were locked in the trunk of his car. Agnew was a
senior patrol leader for Boy Scout Troop 26 and was using the tools while
completing his Eagle Scout project -- an outdoor trail at May Howard
Elementary School.

But Boy Scout or not, the items were on the contraband list and the honors
student was suspended and had to finish out his junior year at an
alternative school.

Although the Agnew case received national media attention and elicited
severe criticism of unforgiving zero tolerance and the limitation of
freedoms in public schools, local board members insist that their school
administrators have the right to use discretion in each individual case and
say that their policies get far more support than complaints.

"The only time that I hear someone say that it's gone too far is when their
child is accused," Hamilton said.

He argued that students are protected under the Fourth Amendment.

"Their rights are protected because they have due process," Hamilton said.

In most school districts, students who are accused of violating the code of
conduct may appeal the decision to the local and state school boards. If
those attempts fail they are free to pursue their case through the legal
system.

But that provides no solace to a student like Courtney who doesn't feel he
should be expected to sacrifice his privacy and comply with random searches
for drugs, weapons and lost items.

"Clear bags and searches have been fought all the way up to the Supreme
Court and they found that school boards have a right to do these things to
protect children," Hamilton said. "It's a safety issue. With all that's
going on in the community, the schools have a right and an obligation to
make sure children are safe."

According to Boyd, there's no reason why schools can't prevent violence,
drugs and crime without infringing upon a student's civil rights.

"In most cases these things aren't in contention at all," he said.

But the best prevention tool, according to Boyd, doesn't detect drugs or
beep when it finds a metal object. "The best ways schools can prevent these
problems is to engage students in after school and athletic activities,"
Boyd said.

Pushing the issue

Bryant Courtney moved to the Atlanta area this summer but said he has not
been discouraged by his unsuccessful political efforts in South Effingham.

"Students are apathetic and afraid of change," he said. "It's hard to
reverse wrongs that have been accepted for so long."

Despite the trips to the principal's office and the debates with school
officials, Jeanette Courtney-Cross, Bryant Courtney's mother, said she's
proud of her son's controversial stance.

The issue of student rights may not be resolved in South Effingham or
across the nation, but Courtney proved that he is passionate and willing to
stand up for what he thinks is right.

"Bryant came out of the womb wanting justice for all," she said.

His activism began at age 13 when he broke a plastic part on his brand-new
computer. Despite the manufacturer's claim that the warranty didn't cover
plastic parts, Courtney discovered that there was nothing in the warranty
that specifically excluded his broken part. His mother said he spent a week
making calls and talking to the manufacturer's legal department and a
corporate attorney eventually called her to say that they were going to
have to replace the part and change their warranty because of the loophole
that Courtney found.

Life would probably be easier if Courtney would sit back, be quiet and stop
making waves, according to his mother. But she said that's not the way to
become a strong, independent, intellectual adult.

"Last year a school official asked wasn't I concerned about Bryant becoming
a troublemaker and wasn't I concerned about Bryant disrespecting
authority," Courtney-Cross said. "I told him it's easier to teach our
children to just sit and listen than to teach them to have individual thought."