Students and the Fourth Ammendment

While I am against drug testing in schools its affects are positive, but event thought it accomplishes what it is supposed to well that does not outweigh the reality that students rights as citizens are being taken away. All people in America, regardless of age, sex, or race are entitled to the same rights that they are innocent until proven guilty. By allowing drug testing it is showing the future citizens of our country that the rights provided to them are not always followed. There are many statistics on how drug testing has benefited schools, drug used dropped from 20% to 5.3%, participation in extracurricular activities increases, and student do better in their school work. And while this evidence is very convincing it is the right of parents to make sure they are keeping track of their children and that they are not using drugs. Schools should not be spending taxpayer’s money on drug test for students but rather parents should be buying drug test for their own children. Schools can’t continue to base searches on “reasonableness” and drug tests on guilty till proven innocent. These are rules that simply go against students’ rights as citizens of the United States and teach kids nothing about the rights they are provided and entitled to.

In the case where a student, N.N.’s cell phone was taken away in school and later searched where explicit pictures were found and she was given a 3 day suspension her rights were violated. I agree even more that drug testing should not be allowed in schools. Students need to be guaranteed the same basic rights that any other citizen of the United States is given.  There was no reason for the school to search her phone because there was neither probable cause nor “reasonableness” provided to schools in the case of searching students. Kids get their cell phones taken away every day in schools but that does not give administrators the right to invade their privacy. Schools are institutions of the government set up to provide students with an education and when schools cross the line and start to take away freedoms, that do not cause a disruption to the education, it becomes illegal.