Do school officials really have this right?

If someone took my child's cell phone and then looked at the text messages on it I'd be very angry.

The school has the right to take the phone and give it back to a parent if it is being used during school hours. However, it stops there. Reading or looking at any of the phone numbers is an invasion of privacy. If the school wants to know they should contact the police and have them get a warrant.

If they were passing notes in class, the teacher would have taken it and read it. Also, the courts have upheld over and over that students have no rights while at school-- no freedom of speech, no privacy, etc etc. Whether this is right or not, its just another expression of the attitude that students are the property of their school and not the other way around.

But making transcripts of texts to put in their permanent record is ridiculous and unnecessary unless they're talking about a real crime. In which case, the evidence won't be admissible in court so they've basically destroyed evidence by obtaining it without a warrant.

Back when I went to school and there were no cell phones, we passed notes.
You can bet that when the teacher's confiscated the notes they read them.

I think you are getting upset about nothing.

Maybe those kids were texting each other answers to a test or something.

I don't agree with taking a transcript either, that sounds like an invasion of privacy.
I think he should have just made a list of the time the messages were sent.

They were trying to see if the kid was smoking? Here's a good plan. Smell him. If he smells like smoke TELL HIS PARENTS! One does not need to break into a cell phone and read text messages to figure out if a kid is smoking. His clothes will give him away.

That's what I was thinking. I had many notes that were read out loud in class that totally embarrassed me of my crushes, who I was talking with, etc. However, the only reason why the note(s) were read out loud is because I was disrupting class and not paying attention.

Additionally when I was in school anything that was brought into the classroom that *could be* a class disruption or used during class (walkmans, CD players, etc) were confiscated for the entire day. If you didn't give them up, you were sent to the principles office.

The article does not indicate that the student was receiving calls during the time in the principles office. IMO if students are bringing personal items into the school, then turn them on ONLY before school, during lunch and after school. Otherwise if you're 16 and taking phone calls or texting during class or while in the principles office that is not demonstrating respect to your educators and you could lose your privacy over this.

One thing I will add though - I think it was wrong that the principle kept the phone over the Memorial weekend. Glancing through is one thing, but keeping the phone longer than the school day is silly.

Right, which tells me that the kid was probably receiving text messages and/or sending them while sitting in the principle's office.

Don't get me wrong, I do think that it sucks for the kid and that things got out of hand. I've just read too many ACLU articles that really glorify the victim.

I have no problem with them taking the phone. if it was beening used during class time, In my daughter's school cell phones ,are being used to cheat on tests, download essays, text friends, which is rude and disruptive. but I don't think they have the right, to search his phone records.

My first question is why did this student have a cell phone in school in they first place. Yes they have a right to take the phone but printing the text message, I'm not sure. This student should be paying attention to class not text messaging anyone. I take away plenty of notes when I'm teaching, never read it out loud, but read it to myself. It's usually about who likes who, it was pretty funny.

I think reading the messages is an invasion of privacy. You shouldn't treat kids like criminals. They have a right to privacy too.

If there was suspicion that it was used for cheating, I think the solution we have at the university is much simpler: no cell phone allowed during exam time. Period. Anyone caught with a cell phone (even if turned off or not used) is considered to be cheating. People are well warned at the beginning of the exam.

if the school does not allow cells during school hours, they're within their rights to confiscate.

they were within rights to confiscate for the original stated purpose - to prevent the student from texting while in the principal's office.

however, they wouldn't be within their rights to read/print the text messages UNLESS they were sent/received/written during class time.

now, i have no legal info to base this on - just IMNHO as a teacher in a public school.

That would be my assessment as a teacher at a private school, too, except for this point
In this case, I would probably threaten to flunk a student suspected of cheating on a test/exam via text message unless the student convinced me that wasn't the case by showing me the actual message sent/received. I wouldn't read any messages without explicit, written permission.

I tend toward lenience about cell phone use during class (not tests), because some of my students have young children. I had a case just a few years ago where the police contacted a student during class, because her younger sister had come home from school and surprised a burglar. The girls' parents were away, and the younger sister was pretty hysterical. Her older sister hadn't turned her phone off because she wanted to be available in case of emergencies. My students are for the most part in their late teens or early to mid-twenties, though.

I didn't think about that point of view, but cell phones are private property and no one but the police have the right to look through your personal property.....and they need a court order.

What I don't understand is that the school administrator who took the phone apparently kept it for a few days and had been trying to send a text to one of the kid's friends or something. That makes no sense to me at all.

Do i like it, No i dont.
does the school have the right,, yea, i guess..but i still dont like it.

Personally, I don't think cell phones should be allowed in schools for the very reasons mentioned in this thread. They are there to LEARN not talk on their cell phones.

I do wonder how us old folks ever made it through school with no cell phones,
it's a wonder we ever did.

Sorry, but when in school there is no privacy, except for restroom use of course. And the ACLU, well them being involved speaks volumes.

Don't take your cell phone to school and it can't be taken away from you.

I was going to allude to the same thing that Katachtig just did. Cell phones are a handy tool. It's just difficult to keep students from using them for improper purposes. If I had a child in school I would want him to be able to carry a cell phone in case of an emergency but I would not want it to be used for any other reasons. I would probably embarrass my child and give him one of those phones that only has a few pre-programmed numbers they can push a button to dial.

That is EXACTLY the reason I tell my kids to keep their phones with them, but not to use them in class. If they get them taken away, that's their problem, but I specifically WANT them to have them in school.

My 8th grader told me that on the first day of school he was sitting in class when another student's cell phone rang (rules are phones to be in lockers during the day, only for use after school). The teacher told her not to bring it to class again but the following day it rang in the same class. The teacher took the phone, handed it to the student teacher with the instructions to answer it, and kept on teaching. That put a stop to the calls in class.

OTOH, my son has also told me he's had teacher phones go off during class.

There is no unsearchable property on student grounds except perhaps the student themselves, and I bet that wouldn't even hold if there was a strong safety threat. School officials can check anything that students bring: lockers, backpacks, purses, notebooks, etc. I bet that extends to cell phones as well.

Kids do not need cell phones at school. Good grief, there are plenty of authority figures there in case of emergencies.

I ask again, how did kids ever make it through school without cell phones?

hmm err, yea, we have soon over the last few years,
how well those authority figures have worked.

if the kid is using the phone during class, take the phone away,
and return it at the end of the school day.

I think there needs to be another thought to this whole thing...while possession is 9/10 of the law, does the phone belong to the student, or is it the parents' property on loan to the student? Searching the phone for evidence of a crime of which the phone was not a tool used is wrong, but going further...is the school allowed to search the property of the parent?

Then again, if the student drives to school, I believe the school has the right to search the vehicle if there is suspicion to do so. Although, I believe I had to have my parents sign a waiver giving consent to do so just to get the parking permit.

There are a lot of issues here...my opinion?

If the phone was confiscated just because the student had it, but not because he was using it, there was no right to search the messages. If the student was thought to be smoking on school grounds but was not caught, there was no reason to search the messages. If they just wanted to prove the kid smoked, period (not on school grounds), it is not the school's responsibility to police that at all.

Is it legal? I have no clue, but I don't think it SHOULD be. *shrug*

I absolutely disagree. But probably because I live just miles away from both Columbine and Platte Canyon.

I don't have any difficulty with kids having cell phones with them in school. There's justification these days for people -- not just kids -- to have a way of reaching out from where they are in case of emergency, and in case of emergency, the phone needs to be with the kid, not somewhere else that the kid needs to get to in order to use it. However, the phone should not be for social use during school hours, and should be OFF during class, and other academic activities.

If the phone was being used in class, I can see confiscating it, but I really have difficulty with anyone reading messages, unless there was a clear need to do so. Otherwise, that is, IMO, invasion of privacy. I'm not saying there was not justification, or that there could not be, just that without a clear need for that information, it's nobody else's business. Also, the confiscation should be for the duration of the class, no longer.

I don't think kids need phones at school but I utterly disagree with the teacher being able to access the phone's usage in terms of text messages or calls. That is a blatant violation of privacy and on that note, I also disagree with teachers who read out a child's secretly passed notes to the class. That's just a ridiculous abuse of power and there is nothing to be gained by doing that to a child except to make them resent you and lose any respect they may have had for you.

If I was a teacher I would confiscate phones / notes etc, but would not read the notes and would NOT go through the phones. I think it's a moral transgression to do so no matter what position you are in. Children deserve their right to privacy and there is no arguing that - just because they're young it doesn't mean they don't deserve respect. And one way to teach children how to respect others is to afford them respect in turn.

If a child is caught passing notes, the child is punished. Period. But not through embarrassing them or delving into their privacy. Children's and teenager's worlds are very absorbing for them - they deserve to be able to go through difficult phases in their lives without having adults barge on in and take over whenever they feel like it. School or no school - prying, eavesdropping and violating confidence is wrong no matter how you try to excuse it.

There are other ways to discipline children whilst leaving their self-respect intact. I know that kids can have a real sense of entitlement but my feeling is that you should work on getting them to trust you and therefore feel safe in confiding in you in times of trouble or to prevent them from misbehaving because they respect you, NOT fear you. This to me is more of a triumph for an adult than abusing the power you have over them because you are their teacher or parent. But this is just my opinion - I know many will disagree!