Superintendent’s
Circular
School Year 2022-2023
NUMBER:
SAF-01
DATE:
September 1, 2022
STUDENT SEARCH PROCEDURES
This policy circular only applies to School Year 2022-2023.
School leaders, principals, and other administrative personnel are responsible for enforcing the Student
Code of Conduct and for establishing a safe and secure environment for learning in the schools under
their supervision. The United States Supreme Court in the case of New Jersey v. T.L.O., 469 U. S. 325
(1985) has issued a decision that affects the manner by which school personnel may enforce school rules
and maintain an atmosphere conducive to teaching and learning.
The Supreme Court’s decision established constitutional standards for student searches by school
officials and school employees. Specifically, the Court ruled that the Fourth Amendment to the United
States Constitution, which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures by government employees, is
not violated when public school administrators and teachers conduct student searches as long as there
are reasonable grounds to believe that the search will yield evidence of either a violation of law, a
violation of school rules, or both.
In announcing its ruling, the Court rejected the school board’s argument that school officials, like parents,
are exempt from the requirements of the Fourth Amendment. At the same time, the Court rejected the
student’s claim that school officials must obtain warrants or meet the more rigorous “probable cause”
standard, applicable to searches by law enforcement officials, before conducting student searches on
school property. Rather, the Court struck a balance between the student’s legitimate expectations of
privacy in the school setting and the school’s equally legitimate need to maintain an environment in which
learning can take place. The Court held that the “legality of a search of a student should depend simply
on the reasonableness, under all the circumstances, of the search.”
To be legal, a student search must be reasonable in two respects. First there must be reasonable
suspicion to believe that the student has in their possession evidence tending to show either a violation of
law or a violation of school rules. In order to reasonably suspect something, school officials must have
facts of sufficient quantity and certainty to establish that the suspicion is likely to be true. Mere suspicion,
hearsay, or a single isolated fact, unsupported by further evidence, is generally not enough to meet the
reasonable suspicion standard. Second, the scope of the search must be reasonable in relation to the
intrusion on the student’s privacy. There must be a likelihood that the area searched will yield the item(s)
being sought.
The determination of whether a search is reasonable is a question of judgment without definite
benchmarks. School officials must exercise common sense and good judgment to ensure that student
searches conform to the “reasonableness” standard.
In conducting student searches, school personnel should adhere to the following guidelines:
1. Only administrators who are authorized under Boston Public Schools’ Code of Conduct to
suspend students from school should conduct student searches. The authority to conduct student
searches should be limited to school leaders, principals, other administrative officials, and