How will these all fit into my backpack?

[DisneyFan25863]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

Hrmm, it's been a while since I've had the good ol' "How my inalienable rights are being trampled by the concept of random locker searches" debate (a favorite AP History/AP Government class passtime), but it might actually be easier for them to search backpacks than lockers. With lockers there were all these hoops to jump through to ensure that it remained "random", whereas I believe if they decided to haul you into the office, they'd search your backback by default.

But again, it's been 10 years, so I may be wrong.

We had this same debate last year in my AP European History class. Since the locker was school property, the school has the right to open the locker and look inside for any reason at all, and it didn't have to be random. However, they could not go inside any of your personal stuff. You could only be procecuted with visible items.

To search a backpack, the school needs to obtain parental permission or the consent of the student, unless they have probable cause (which can only be determined by a police officer...not hard since we have one stationed on campus).

A few years ago when I was in Junior High, they would do random drug dog searches, where they would come into a classroom, tell everyone to leave their bags and jackets, and tell them to wait outside while they swept the room. That stopped a few years ago after it was ruled an invasion of privacy.

The consequence for having drugs (or any other illegal substance..even medicine not approved by the nurse) on campus is expulusion, no questions asked. Everyone expelled in my district is sent to a special school called Opportunity for Learning (OFL) which is, and I'm not kidding here, surrounded by a 8 foot high wall and has x-ray machines and metal detectors at all openings.

We don't really have many drug problems at school itself, but we have BIG issues at all of our dances. When I went to prom last year, I was literally padded down 3 times, had my wallet, cell phone, boutonniere, and keys inspected, and had to ride on a special bus to the site. My girlfriend wasn't allowed to bring any sort of makeup with her or anything.

It's pretty crazy stuff. Sometimes I feel like I'm in prision rather than school.