Schools Consider Strip Searches of Students : Oxnard: Under the proposed policy, officials could inspect a teen-ager’s property if he or she is suspected of carrying contraband.

Oxnard high school board members Wednesday tabled a proposal to allow school officials to conduct body searches--even modified strip searches--of students if they have reasonable suspicion that the student is harboring contraband.

The policy would affect students at six schools in the Oxnard Union High School District. The proposal outlines the questioning of students; the search of school property, including lockers, desks and storage areas; and searches of personal property or students’ bodies.

Wednesday night, trustees unanimously voted preliminary approval of locker searches. They also decided to table the body search proposal so they could define what would be allowed in a strip search and to clarify law enforcement’s role in such searches.

Under the proposed policy, “if reasonable suspicion exists that a student is harboring contraband . . . personal property including handbags, wallets, book bags and automobiles may be searched.”

The policy specifies the types of student searches that may be conducted, including a “patdown” by a person of the same sex and in the presence of a witness.

The policy states that “strip searches should be avoided under all conditions unless an extreme emergency exists which jeopardizes the immediate health and safety of the suspect or other persons on the premises.”

Such searches must be reported to the superintendent and can be conducted only by the superintendent or an assistant superintendent, a principal or a principal designee. Under most circumstances, law enforcement officials would be called to conduct the search, Christine Smith, director of student services, said.

Smith said the students would not be asked to remove all clothing; instead, for example, a girl or boy would be asked to lift up their shirt.

Student strip searches have been the subject of several state and national laws.

A 1985 Supreme Court ruling held that while students are protected from unreasonable search and seizure under the Fourth Amendment, searches may be conducted on grounds of “reasonable suspicion.”

But a California state law that went into effect in 1989 makes it “unlawful for a schoolteacher or school employee to conduct a strip search or body cavity search of a pupil.”

Smith, who said the proposal was based on guidelines of the National School Safety Center at Pepperdine University, said the proposed policy “makes it very clear that there has to be a reasonable cause before the search is undertaken . . . This policy defines those reasonable causes.”

According to the proposed policy, “reasonable suspicion is more than a hunch. It must be based on observed facts or reliable information. Reasonable suspicion means that one has good reason to suspect that what is being sought can be found within the object or area to be searched.”

Officials at several other Ventura County school districts said they do not allow strip searches of students under any circumstances. District officials in Ojai and Simi Valley, for example, said students would be asked to do a “self-search” and empty pockets, purses, book bags or any other item suspected of containing drugs or weapons. If a student refuses to cooperate, parents and sometimes police may be called.

The Los Angeles Unified School District has “provisions for limited searches of kids and lockers with sufficient probable cause,” district spokesman Pat Spencer said. “But the board has never considered a strip search policy. . . . It seems a little extreme unless they have a major problem of some sort.”

Oxnard officials said the proposal to change the policy was not triggered by a specific incident or a rise in violence or drug-related incidents. They also said body cavity searches would not be done by school administrators.

Ian K. Kirkpatrick, named the district’s new superintendent Wednesday night, said he had reviewed the search policy but did not recall mention of strip searches. He said he had never heard of a district adopting such a policy, but would carry it out if instructed by the board.

“Schools have to be islands of safety for students and we have to do what’s necessary to protect them,” Kirkpatrick said. “A school administrator’s authority is even greater than that of a police officer on school grounds.”

Assistant Ventura County Public Defender Jean Farley said that even with adults, strip searches are almost never legal except for safety reasons when prisoners are being booked into jail.

“And I think there would be far more limitations on the search of children,” Farley said. “There are serious questions about its constitutionality. . . . I think that’s very offensive. And there’s some question as to whether the officials are exposing themselves to charges of child abuse and invasion of privacy.”

Oxnard High School junior Frank de los Reyes voiced no objection to locker or body searches. “If they catch somebody doing it, then they search ‘em,” he said Wednesday afternoon. “It would probably cut down on drugs. When they know there’s going to be a body search, they would probably think twice and leave them at home.”

Another student, who would only give his first name, Bobby, called the searches “an invasion of privacy. . . . Cops doing it is one thing. But not school people.”

Times staff writers Daryl Kelley, Gary Gorman, Carol Watson, Gerry Brailo Spencer and Christopher Pummer contributed to this story.