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Phone searches spark protest

ACLU criticizes actions by officials at Monarch High

Sue Lindsay, Rocky Mountain News

Published October 11, 2007 at midnight

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The inquiry started when a security officer at Monarch High School in Louisville accused a student of smoking and parking in the wrong lot.

But it ended in a "runaway investigation" by school officials who violated the rights of students last May when they confiscated cell phones and transcribed text messages, the American Civil Liberties Union said Wednesday.

The ACLU has sent a letter to the Boulder Valley School District asking it to stop administrators from conducting cell phone searches.

"The educators at Monarch High School need some education themselves about the law and students' rights," said ACLU legal director Mark Silverstein.

"They told parents that their children have no rights of privacy at school and that they can search any cell phones and read any text messages they want. The administrators are wrong about the law and they are wrong about student rights," he said.

"Students have legally protected rights of privacy. These searches violate those rights."

Investigation supported

The district, however, issued a statement saying it "supports the actions taken by Monarch High School administrators" during an "investigation of possible student misconduct."

School officials consulted the district's legal counsel before seizing the cell phones and transcribing the text messages and were told the actions were legal, said school district spokesman Briggs Gamblin.

The district "takes very seriously the civil liberties of each of its more than 28,000 students and weighs those rights carefully against its responsibility to guarantee the safety of all students," the statement said.

The district said it is willing to review the incident with the ACLU, but declined Wednesday to comment further.

The students and parents involved in the cell phone searches declined to be interviewed, Silverstein said.

Group gives account

The ACLU letter gives this version of events, which Silverstein said is based on interviews with a dozen students and their parents:

After the 16-year-old sophomore was taken to the principal's office, Assistant Principal Drew Adams had him empty his pockets and backpack, looking for cigarettes. No cigarettes were found.

"At that point, the search should have ended," ACLU staff attorney Taylor Pendergrass said.

But Adams demanded that the student turn over his cell phone, took it and left the office. When he returned, he said he had found some "incriminating" text messages that mentioned marijuana.

By the time the student's mother arrived, Adams had made transcripts of the messages.

Adams refused initially to return the cell phone. When it was returned several days later, it contained a draft of a text message in which someone had posed as a student while attempting to engage another student in conversation.

"Monarch High School authorities followed up with a cascade of additional interrogations accompanied by seizures and searches of additional students' cell phones," Pendergrass said.

Constitution cited

The ACLU cites a Colorado statute that makes it a felony to read, copy or record a telephone or electronic communication without the consent of the sender or receiver. The practice also violates state and federal constitutional protection against unreasonable searches and seizures, the ACLU said.

"Administrators think they are doing something they have a right to do," Silverstein said. "How widespread it is, we don't know. It's not like school administrators don't have leeway. They can do searches the police couldn't do without probable cause."

If a student is accused of smoking, for example, they have a right to see what's in the student's pockets or backpack, he said.

"But once they found nothing in the pockets or backpack, the administrators should have stopped."

Boulder Valley School District's search policy

• A student's person and/or personal effects, such as a purse, book bag, backpack, etc., may be searched whenever a school authority has reasonable grounds for suspecting that the search will turn up evidence that the student has violated or is violating either the law or the rules of the school.

• All lockers, desks, storage and similar areas provided for student use on school premises are school property and remain at all times under the control of the student. Student use of such areas is subject to the right of school authorities to open or enter into the same and inspect the contents for any reason at any time without notice or student consent.

• The interiors of student vehicles may be inspected if a school authority has reasonable grounds for suspecting that the search will turn up evidence that the student has violated or is violating either the law or school rules.Source: Boulder Valley School District Student Rights And Responsibilities Guide

or 303-954-5181

Comments

  • December 21, 2007

    6:36 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    Maverick writes:

    What is the verdict on this case? Can school officials really seize and search a student cell phone with probable cause?