My little sister was caught lying about a cell phone she found on her high school campus. She did not have the phone in possession but admitted to lying about finding it. She was suspended for 5 days for lying, after her cell phone was confiscated for no apparent reason and the principal read thru her text messages and found a message that she sent to her friend that said she found a phone. She was searched by the sheriff and nothing was found. I know high schoolers have limited rights but because a cell phone contains personal information, are school officials allowed to look through them without student and parents consent?
Update:actually it was the sheriff that looked through the cell phone... does the sheriff have the same rights to look through the phone as the principal?
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Verified answer
No, i believe what he did was against the law. I know that he doesn't have to have the student's consent but he should have at least had your parents. I used to work for a cell phone company and the FAA states that without a court order we could not release txt message records and so I believe that this falls under the same circumstances. He had the right to confiscate the cell phone but not to look through without speaking to your parents first. I would have your parents talk to a lawyer because technically the principal violated your sisters rights. hope this helps Happy Holidays!
While on school grounds is considered "a parent" or "guardian". So totally legal for the school to search anything at anytime.
The officer can search if there is reasonable evidence pointing to the fact that a crime was committed. Out of all of the kids in the school why was she targeted. She said something to somebody else or the friend blabbed. How did the officer know to check her cell?
Out of all the kids in school why did someone take the time to inform the school that she might have the phone. Come on..... why would anybody bother to send a text about finding a phone if she or somebody she knows did not actually find a phone?
All the evidence points to her being guilty.
Inside the Education system ( School ) the Principal have the right of seized, detain and search.
That is why you should always have your cell phone locked. The only way to look through your text messages is with a court order but in this case your cell was open for anyone to see.
Yes he can.
In loco parentis, roughly "In place of parents" he can take any action a reasonable parent would take as long as you are in his care ie: at school.
He can't search your locker "just because" or search your body,sorry about your privacy but I assure you he doesn't care what's in your messages for their own sake, but if he missed something and somebody wound up jacked up over it it would be his head on a platter.
no unless hes a robot