The Tulsa Forum by TulsaNow

I'm ambivalent on this.  On one hand, it's objectionable for a school to inspect a student's e-reader regardless of the contents.  Yet at the same time, I can see how, say, a copy of Maxim on that same e-reader may be distracting.

From the Owasso Reporter:

The potential policy states a school may examine a student’s personal mobile device and search its contents if there is a reason to think the school’s policies, regulations or guidelines regarding use of the device have been violated; all e-Readers must be registered with the main office with the signed policy form; e-Readers and mobile devices are to be used for reading only school approved material; all material on the e-Reader must comply with the spirit and policies of OPS;...

http://owassoreporter.com/news/ops-board-to-implement-new-mobile-device-policy-for-e/article_94455962-857f-11e1-ab73-001a4bcf887a.html (http://owassoreporter.com/news/ops-board-to-implement-new-mobile-device-policy-for-e/article_94455962-857f-11e1-ab73-001a4bcf887a.html)

What about a device with 4G connectivity?  A kid could be in compliance at 9AM and violate school policy minutes later.

No mention of devices only being searchable @ 9:00am
If it's on school property, it can be searched at any time.

I still don't see how this can stand up against the constitutional test.  I thought that all effects an papers were safe from unwarranted search and seizure. Personally I think I would make sure I had a password on mine and refuse to give the password.

Not at school. They can check your locker for porn, they can check your iPad for porn. Our digital calculators were randomly searched when I was in school. Luckily for me, the teachers weren't good at inspecting them. *cough*

Doesn't mean that it would survive the constitution test if ever tested.  If it's in your locker it's one thing, if it's on your person, it's another.

From the US Dept of Education:

Also keep in mind it says they have to agree to a school-specific policy to bring it on campus meaning they probably sign that they will unlock and present their devices when requested.

So now students have to sign contracts to bring personal property to school?  What happens if they refuse to sign?  Are they not allowed to go to school?  Or not allowed to bring personal property?  What if the e-readers are needed for class, but not provided by the school, then wouldn't it be a form of coercement?

Seriously?    I can't remember that ever happening.

Not at all.  The school has to ensure that children are not bringing in items which will detract from their learning experience as well as those around them.  There’s a certain code of conduct which is expected of students.  If they don’t observe it, they can be kicked out.

I don’t see how it’s any different than a car being subject to inspection on school grounds or in a private employer’s parking lot.

I'm no lawyer, but I'm not so sure they have this power.  The federal government requires that the "kids" attend school. . .The school practices search and seizure without probable cause. . .therefore the federal government is practicing/condoning search and seizure of property without probable cause. 

If you were to walk into a public library and a police officer said, I need to search your laptop to make sure you don't have any information or pictures we disagree with on it, that would probably be a violation of your rights?  Don't you think?

Now if the students agree via contract, or incident to be searched, that's another matter, however I still believe that probable cause would need to be the basis, and it would have to be criminally related.

It's going to get very expensive for the taxpayers to defend the school's actions.


PHILADELPHIA – The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania announced today that it has settled a lawsuit filed in May alleging that the Tunkhannock Area School District (Wyoming County) illegally searched a student's cell phone, punished her for storing semi-nude pictures of herself on the device, and then referred her case for criminal prosecution to the district attorney's office.  Under the settlement, the school district denied any liability or wrongdoing but agreed to pay the student and her lawyers $33,000 to resolve the dispute.  The student's claims against the District Attorney's Office were not settled and will proceed through litigation.

The student, identified only as N.N. in court papers to protect her privacy, was pleased that this part of the case had settled: "I hope this settlement will lead school officials in the future to consider whether they have valid grounds to search students' private text messages, emails and photos."

N.N.'s lawyer, Witold Walczak, the ACLU of PA's Legal Director, also praised the settlement: "We're pleased that the school district resolved the dispute quickly and amicably, but much work remains to educate school officials across the country about the importance of respecting students' significant privacy interests in the contents of their cell phones."

The case began in January 2009 when a teacher confiscated the cell phone of N.N., a 17-year-old senior, for using the phone after homeroom began, a violation of school policy. Later that morning, the principal informed N.N. that he had found "explicit" photos stored on her cell phone, which he turned over to law enforcement. He then gave her a three day out-of-school suspension, which she served.

The photographs, which were not visible on the screen and required multiple steps to locate, were taken on the device's built-in camera and were never circulated to other students in the school. N.N. appeared fully covered in most of the photographs, although several showed her naked breasts and one indistinct image showed her standing upright while fully naked. The photographs were intended to be seen only by N.N.'s long-time boyfriend and herself.

The ACLU-PA hoped to use this case to help alert school officials across Pennsylvania to students' privacy rights in their cell phones.  Very little case law exists discussing student-cell-phone searches.  While the settlement forecloses a court ruling, the case has led the ACLU-PA to contact the Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA), which this week agreed to work with the ACLU towards crafting guidelines for teachers and school officials to help them better handle situations involving student cell phones and other electronic devices without unlawfully invading student privacy. Walczak noted that the goal was to prevent future violations of students' constitutional rights.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, will continue against former DA George Skumanick, who threatened to prosecute N.N.; Police Detective David Ide, who investigated and viewed the images; and Jeff Mitchell, the current Wyoming County District Attorney.

N.N. is represented by Walczak and Valerie Burch from the ACLU of Pennsylvania.  The case is N.N. v. Tunkhannock Area School District et al., 10-cv-01080-ARC.  More information about the case, including a copy of the complaint, can be found here: aclupa.org/legal/legaldocket/nnvtunkhannockareaschooldi.htm

Based on the way the policy is cited in the OP, if the student wishes to use the device on school property, they sign a form.  No need for probable cause, as the student has signed an agreement essentially waiving certain rights.

Aside from that “probable cause” is whatever a police officer, campus cop, or school administrator wants to say it is.  “We heard a rumor you had photos of naked pygmies on your Nook!”.  “Where’s your proof you heard a rumor?”  “Sorry we have to protect our sources."

So let me get this right, it is a new digital age, my daughter decides to do like me and start reading some books on her phone.  The policy also says that they have to register mobile devices, so unless she signs away her constitutional rights, she isn't allowed to read her copy of Huck Finn?  And this is supposed to be okay?  Even if they restrict it to just e-readers such as a nook, how is it different to carry a book in it and one in her purse?  Still the same concept, and same violation of rights. 

Schools can search her purse too.

What happens if a kid wants to read one of the frequently banned books, like Huck Finn, Slaughterhouse Five, or Catcher in the Rye?  Kids aren't dumb.  They'll put the books on a micro SD card and slip it into the ebook reader when no adults are nearby.

Some schools are embracing ebook readers as a way to keep down text book costs.  That opens up a whole 'nother can o' worms.

and this passed constitutional mustard when?  Sorry, but my kids know what their constitutional rights are, and will fight for them, and I will be right there with them.

(http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/p480x480/578799_180483928738640_137633013023732_268926_864003298_n.jpg)

That's all fine and dandy, they can put what they want on their policies, doesn't make it right, nor does it mean it will stand up against a civil suit when push comes to shove.  They are government employees, and the constitution does not make these exceptions, unless it has been amended since the last time I read it.

Apparently you missed the part where it says the Supreme Court already decided this.

No, I didn't.  However, I didn't see a specific reference.  And a ruling in one case does not mean it holds the same in a different case.  Kinda like the supreme court ruling that in one case religious symbols aren't allowed on public property (Haskall) and are in another (park in Texas).  What are the specifics of the cases that was ruled on?

And are you saying your okay with the school stripping away our children's constitutional rights?

I’m okay with school administrators keeping some semblance of order to maintain the educational process for everyone.  Schools are charged with maintaining a safe place to learn and with facilitating a process which minimizes unnecessary distractions and provides discipline which seems to be a foreign concept to too many parents these days.

Parents and students know the rules going in. If a parent doesn’t like the rules and is convinced they are impinging on their child’s Constitutional rights, then they can home school them.  Can’t home school them?  Then play by the school systems set of rules.

If you don't like the idea of your personal rights being violated then don't walk off your property, otherwise, don't complain when they give you a cavity search for walking down the street.  

You could also use the same idea to allow the school to promote a religion.

custosnox, I agree completely that schools have too much authority over their charge in certain ways. However, now isn't really a great time to try to take this sort of argument before the Supreme Court. You'd be very unlikely to see a favorable ruling. Hopefully that will change over the coming years as the composition of the Court changes.

That said, schools could easily sidestep this issue. Simply have a blanket policy of confiscating anything that is disruptive to the learning environment until the end of the day. Kids can then carry whatever they like. If it becomes a problem, it gets taken away. No need to search the devices. The problem isn't the content itself, it's the disruption. Unfortunately, the authoritarians see the need to control what other people see, so they need to search the device so they can punish on the basis of content.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjUmULa0R-8[/youtube]

It's been a while since I looked at this issue, but students generally have a lower standard of protection in the search and seizure and privacy areas.  This is because of the in loco parentis status of schools and students.  As school property, locker searches are pretty much always upheld.  Searches of the person requires some reasonable basis, but the standard is lower than typically for a criminal suspect/adult.

Here it sounds like schools are simply using a policy of obtaining advanced consent to search a student's property that it otherwise would have to have some reasonable basis to search.  The student has a choice, pre-consent to a search if she wants to bring it/use it at school or don't consent and leave it at home.  With the increasing commonality of students carrying electronic devices such as smart phones, iPads, Kindles, etc., there are a lot of unanswered questions as to how far schools can go to police these devices while students are at school.  No doubt this will get heavily litigated in the coming years.

And for what? So that the school can try to control what the students see and read? Seriously, why is it any of the schools business what a student is reading on their personal equipment?

I think it has more to do about control than anything else.

When I was a kid and brought my Popular Mechanics magazine (yes I'm a geek) to school to hide in my text book and read in class or study hall, it was easy for a teacher to walk by, confiscate it and scold me for finding her lecture or assignment BOARRRRING! 

Today, kids are far more connected.  Some schools have capitalized on this, some are fighting it.  Part of being a high-functioning person is the ability to be resourceful by using all of the means at your disposal.  Schools should be embracing these new technologies and taking the lead in teaching kids how to use these resources to their advantage rather than fighting them.  Rather than disseminating information using warehouses filled with outdated text books, schools should be developing their own server-based curriculum and tools, available to any kid at any time, searchable and downloadable.  Sure, kids are going to get distracted, but that's what tests are for!

When we used to get distracted or disruptive, we got a pop quiz, and it counted towards our final grade!  I remember what an impact that made on me the first time I failed one.  I know "failure" and sometimes even "grades" are not politically correct any more, but "back in the day" they sure worked well as both incentive and punishment.

never did anything for me.  It's all about a kids perception of things.  I ended up dropping out of high school a couple of months into my sophomore year.  While I had a number of my own problems, the school never had a way to engage someone like me.  Now that I'm older and returning to school with the desire to succeed (I'm super pissed at myself right now because it doesn't look like I'll be pulling off an A in Japanese and thus killing my 4.0), I find ways to stay engaged.  I actually surf the web while in geology because otherwise I would pass out during the lectures.  At least this way I stay awake and somewhat aware of what is going on in the class.  I also take notes on my computer, so it justifies me having it out.  Of course, if I was causing a disruption with it in class I would be expected to put it away, if that didn't work, then I would be removed from class.  No confiscation, no digging through my files to see what I'm doing with it.

I’m not sure what point you are trying to make with that but consider that you waive certain rights when you walk into a courthouse or an airport as well.  I’ve not heard you complain about that before. 

Isn’t prohibiting use of a cell phone in a court room restricting your First Amendment rights?

Isn’t prohibiting you bringing your gun into the courthouse or airport restricting your Second Amendment rights?

What about the possibility of illegal search and seizure when you go through a check point?

Your Constitutional rights are your rights.  However, there are restrictions on those rights to prevent your exercise of those rights from harming someone else or depriving them of their liberty.  Your Constitutional rights are not without conditions and restrictions.

Don’t take it personal, but I’m far more concerned about how good the learning environment is for my child than I am her Constitutional rights if she’s studying in a public school.  If she’s allowed to diddle on her smart phone all day because someone is afraid of violating her Constitutional rights, that’s a problem and a failure of the educational process.

Harm is a pretty low bar. It could be argued that the insults we sometimes hurl around here rise to that level on occasion. ;)

What do you mean donkey wipe?

Actually, I do complain about those illegal searches.  The only reason I don't end up going to jail every time I try to board a plane is because I need to arrive at my destination because of a commitment made.  
Beyond that, how does what a student reads harm someone else or deprive them from their liberty?  And teachers have been able to deal with students not paying attention or disrupting class for a very long time without needing to resort to snooping.

It’s not a distraction so long as they keep it to themselves.  The kid showing pictures from Monster Jam to his classmates during a math test is obviously a distraction.

As far as having personal reading items on a pad or phone, your child is at school to learn their curricula, not read Seventeen magazine on the interwebz  :P

If "intelligent design" has made it into the classroom, Seventeen Magazine may be the brighter way to go.

Audit the class.  Don't take a grade you don't want.  Stick around to learn all you can, then repeat next semester and ace it.

Much smarter.

8 year full time student Bachelor's program?

So when they have some free time they shouldn't be allowed to have personal things to read?

would screw up my financial aid. 

“Nah! Vee must keep zer nozes to zee gliiindztone!"

Was that an obscure Godwin?

Surely this wouldn't be a reason administrators dont want children in classrooms with digital devices:



The father of a 10-year-old autistic boy in Cherry Hill, N.J., has posted a series of secretly recorded audio clips of school administrators bullying his son to YouTube.

Stuart Chaifetz, the father of 10-year-old Akian, obtained the recordings by dressing his son with a hidden recording device. Chaifetz said the idea to wire his son first came to him after receiving reports from his son's school that Akian was acting out and being violent -- something out of character for the otherwise "wonderful and happy child."

After months of meetings with school officials failed to explain his son's supposed violent outbursts, Chaifetz decided he had to know what was going on during the school day.

"I realized I needed to know what was happening in that class," said Chaifetz in an online video introduction to the YouTube recordings.

On Feb. 17, Chaifetz wired his son with a hidden recorder before sending him to school. When his son returned, Chaifetz discovered hours of audio documenting bullying and verbal abuse by school officials.

"That night, my life changed forever," said Chaifetz. "What I heard was so disgusting and vile. It happened not by other children, but by his teacher and the aides, the people who were supposed to protect him. They were literally making my son's life a living hell."

The recordings contain clips of the teacher and teacher's aide shouting at his son, yelling at him to "Shut up!" and calling him a "bastard." The recordings also catch the teacher's aides having inappropriate conversations about drinking alcohol the night before and complaining about their spouses and other parents.

Chaifetz shared the recordings with school officials. The district superintendent responded in a statement saying that "the individuals who are heard on the recording raising their voices and inappropriately addressing children no longer work in the district."

Chaifetz is now calling for a public apology by the teacher, teacher's aide and school administrators. Only the teacher's aide has been fired, said Chaifetz. Akian's teacher has been moved to another classroom.

This is not the first case of parents of children with disabilities using recording technology to investigate suspected cases of bullying and abuse in the classroom. Since 2003 there have been at least nine similar cases across the U.S.

It's a practice that comes recommended by Wendy Fournier, president of the National Autism Association.

"If a parent has any reason at all to suggest a child is being abused or mistreated, I strongly recommend that they do the same thing," she said to The Associated Press.

But critics of the practice say that the privacy rights of the other children must also be considered.

George Giuliani, executive director of the National Association of Special Education Teachers and director of special education at Hofstra University, says that while evidence of the mistreatment of children is disturbing, secret recordings are not the answer.

"We have to be careful that we're not sending our children in wired without knowing the legal issues," Giuliani said to The Associated Press.

Chaifetz says that since making the recordings public, he has received thousands of emails, many from parents asking for advice about how to similarly wire their own children.

He advises them on how to do it, but always warns them: "Make sure it's legal in your state."

Chaifetz hopes that with more parents taking such actions, educators will think twice about mistreating students who cannot speak up for themselves.

"For the tiny percentage of teachers that do it, I hope that they live in fear every day that a kid's going to walk in with a recorder," he said.

Gomennasai.

Only if ya gotta do that for ALL of them!

いいえ。

It's a way to maximize your opportunity for a 4.0.  As you get closer to the end of the program, the stress to maintain a 4.0 becomes tremendous.

Yes, yes it does.  Of course, it's really the fact that it's a couple of courses that I have to memorize terminology and not ideas that's giving me so many problems. 

You have my sympathy.  I am not a memorizer either.

One of my friends took a year of organic chemistry that required rote memorization of all those chemical diagrams.  I could ask her a question and receive a blank stare in return, then a couple of minutes later she'd ask, "Did you say something?"  Her husband was going crazy with worry every time she had to drive somewhere.

That was me before I started all this learning stuff.  I'm surprised I don't just shut down completely now

Don't shut down until after the diploma is awarded.

that is tooooo far away, I'm going for my Doctorates, and I'm taking my time