Should schools have the right to search lockers? - some students call locker searches an invasion of privacy

Current Events, Sept 26, 1994

In March, Mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly of Washington, D.C., indicated that she was fed up with violence in area schools. Mayor Kelly established police teams to make unannounced searches of students and their lockers. The teams swept Washington schools for guns and other weapons.

According to the New York Times, the searching of student lockers is up all across the country this fall as a result of a "no-guns" drive in schools. The drive is partly a response to the Goals 2000: Educate America Act passed last spring. This law requires schools to take steps to keep guns out of classrooms. Otherwise, the schools may lose federal funds.

Some students in Washington, D.C., felt that the locker search was going too far. "I'd rather they pat me down than search my locker," said a 16-year-old student. "I don't like people going in my locker. That's personal." This student was not alone in objecting.

But District of Columbia police chief Fred Thomas thought that the searches were necessary. "You may think that this is harsh," he told an assembly of students and parents. "But folks, we are living in harsh times."

School officials agree that locker searches can be helpful in keeping guns out of school. They point to a high school in Eugene, Oregon, and a San Diego, California, school district where student lockers have even been removed completely to prevent their misuse.

What do you think? Should school authorities have the right to search the lockers of students?