Opposition Grows to Searches of Students

Los Angeles school officials have for years aggressively searched students to keep weapons off campuses. But now they are running into legal opposition from civil libertarians, teachers and students who say the security measures violate pupils’ privacy rights.

A federal lawsuit to be filed by the American Civil Liberties Union today accuses the Los Angeles Unified School District of violating constitutional protections by searching students without reasonable suspicion.

The lawsuit focuses on Locke High School in South Los Angeles, alleging that students there are searched arbitrarily and without consent in class and at the front gate when they arrive late.

Though Locke is the only school named, ACLU attorneys said the issues raised by the classroom searches can be found at any of the secondary schools in L.A. Unified--more than 120 campuses.

Los Angeles Unified has taken a more aggressive approach to inspections than many districts in the state by searching students not just at school events or upon entry to the campus but in classrooms as well.

At Locke, campus staff and security guards use metal detector wands, pat students down and inspect backpacks, purses and other belongings, according to the suit. In addition, the suit alleges that adult males at times search female students in violation of school district policy.

“I feel like they’re treating me like a criminal. It feels unlawful,” said Toi Benford, 15, one of eight students named as plaintiffs. “Most of the kids are not involved in any criminal activity. The teachers misjudge people by looks or by actions.”

The conflict at Locke High casts attention on the collision of two opposing forces: the privacy rights of students and the need for school officials to maintain safe, weapon-free environments.

The practice at Locke reflects a long-standing Los Angeles Unified policy designed to keep campuses safe. Every middle school and high school is required to conduct random searches of students in one class daily.

By district policy, students are taken into hallways or empty classrooms for the search. But at Locke, according to the lawsuit, students also are searched in class in front of their peers.

Though he did not comment on practices at Locke, Supt. Roy Romer defended the districtwide policy, which was enacted in 1993 after two campus homicides just weeks apart--one at Reseda High and another at Fairfax High.

“I think it’s a minimal way of maintaining safety,” said Romer, who is named in the lawsuit along with Locke High Principal Annie Webb and school board President Genethia Hayes.

“I do not want to create an atmosphere where we have metal detectors at every door, but I know we have to have some minimal amount of security,” Romer added.

The policy, however, has failed to detect a single gun since it has been enforced, according to the school district’s police chief. Still, district officials say the searches send an important message.

“I think it’s a great thing for schools to have the random searches because they serve as a deterrent for students bringing weapons to school,” Webb said. “While they may not be pleasing to everyone, I think we ought to maintain an open mind.”

Legal rulings on the subject are conflicting.

The California Supreme Court in 1985 ruled that school officials must have reasonable suspicion that a student has violated the law to stop and conduct a search. Such searches are unlawful if they are based on unfounded hunches or curiosity, the court said.

But the state Court of Appeals in 1998 ruled that schools can use metal detecting wands to randomly inspect students late to school.

“The metal detectors are OK, so long as there is no touching of students,” said Rob DeKoven, a law professor at California Western School of Law in San Diego and an expert on the subject. “Courts have always said that schools need reasonable suspicion to conduct pat down searches.”

The California attorney general’s office, meanwhile, has stated that metal detectors can be used as long as they are applied to students randomly.

That is the practice at numerous campuses.

A survey of districts in 1999 found that about one-third of school systems statewide use metal detectors in random student searches--typically before school and at extracurricular events such as school games and dances.

The author of the survey called L.A. Unified’s practice in classrooms “highly unusual” and questioned the effectiveness of the security measure.

“The whole movement of using metal detectors isn’t going to prevent a shooting like Columbine High School [in Colorado],” said Marcus Nieto of the California Research Bureau, which conducts public policy analysis for the Legislature and governor.

“There’s no research to show that metal detectors in and of themselves have prevented weapons from coming on campus.”

Many Locke students agree. They say it would be easy to bring a weapon onto campus simply by tossing it over a fence to someone waiting on the school grounds. There are plenty of locations to do that on the sprawling campus near Watts.

The searches at their school have caused an uproar. A self-proclaimed student union has risen in protest, issuing a list of demands to improve the campus. Their No. 1 demand: “An immediate end to brutality toward students, including illegal searches and seizures.”

Members of the Locke student union say the searches are meddlesome and waste valuable class time.

“It’s intruding on my personal things,” said Jose Gonzalez, who is not among the plaintiffs in the lawsuit but has been searched at the front gate after showing up late. “I don’t feel they make the school safe.”

Meanwhile, an art teacher who refused to allow the searches in her classroom said she has been told not to return next year. The teacher, Ami Motevalli, said she vocally objected to the searches as unconstitutional and because they were disruptive.

Webb, the Locke principal, would not comment on a personnel matter, but she defended the search practice as both lawful and appropriate.

“Random searches are authorized in schools and required in schools,” she said. “We don’t do anything that is against the law.”

Webb disputed one assertion by the students--that searches are conducted outside the front gate for those who are tardy. She said the only time that students are searched outside the school is when administrators receive a tip that someone may have a weapon or a fight on campus is anticipated. Then all students are searched on their way in--something she said did not happen this year.

Some students do not object to the searches, seeing them instead as valuable security on a campus that sits in one of Los Angeles’ most crime-ridden corners.

“It’s cool they do them, but they don’t do them correctly,” said junior Agustin Silva Jr. “It’s not cool to get picked just because you look like a threat to the administration or the school.”