Under the Law

Abstract

School personnel must often balance a student’s right to privacy with a school’s interest in protecting all students. A recent decision by the Ohio Supreme Court — Ohio vs. Polk (2017) — brings to light the complexity of these competing concerns and the high-stakes decisions that must be made in the fast pace of a public school. Does a student have a reasonable expectation of privacy when he leaves a backpack behind? Is the school behaving appropriately when personnel open an unattended backpack? In this case, the Ohio Supreme Court gave the benefit of the doubt to the school in concluding that the more thorough search of the first bag was reasonable. In doing so, they focused on the threat of violence in the schools and the incidents of school shootings in the U.S., stating that schools have a “compelling interest [to ensure] that unattended book bags do not contain dangerous items.” The author concludes that it seems reasonable to expect that bags that are left unattended will be opened not just to identify the owner but to determine if they represent a threat to the general safety. Extending that rationale to the schools which may experience many unattended bags throughout the day seems reasonable.