Big Brother goes to high school - school discipline and safety - Civil Liberties Watch - Column

Humanist, March-April, 1997 by Barbara Dority

Every day, public schools in America are becoming safer.

Walk-through metal detectors have been in use in many inner city schools for over a decade, while hand-held desectors and random weapons screenings are more popular on smaller, rural campuses. They're expensive, but they're thorough. And we want nothing but the best when it comes to the safety of our children.

Under various circumstances, schools across the country are requiring students to submit to body searches. The Washington state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union recently settled a case in which fifteen students were strip-searched by school personnel looking for a missing $100. Commented one of the students, "It felt like we were criminals. It was humiliating." Kids say the darndest things, don't they?

In late 1995, bills were introduced in several states that would allow schools to resume use of corporal punishment in order to "maintain discipline." Because some school officials and doctors spoke out against them, none of these proposals became law. Backers are disappointed but now realize that society isn't quite ready yet for biblical solutions. They plan to wait three or four years before trying again.

The war on drugs is being vigorously waged in our public schools, as shown by an October 1996 story by the Associated Press. A thirteen-year-old honor student in Ohio was suspended ten days from Junior high school for accepting two Midol tablets from a classmate. The school's "zero tolerance" policy makes no distinctions--prescription or nonprescription, legal or illegal. The student could reduce her suspension time only by undergoing "drug screening" (initial cost, $100; several subsequent "counseling" sessions, $90 each). She and the friend who gave her the tablets were ordered to undergo a "drug evaluation" or face expulsion. Both girls said this hardly seemed fair for two unswallowed Midols, but they're just kids. When they're older, they'll understand why it was so important for officials to make no exceptions.

In a 1995 Supreme Court ruling permitting mandatory random drug testing of students participating in sports and other extracurricular activities, the Court specifically said that those who refuse testing can be barred from participation. Students in at least twenty two states are now required to submit or be excluded from many school activities. To some students, this seems unjust. But to quote the father of a star athlete at one Washington high school, "We're supposed to prepare students for the world of work. On the door of Albertson's [food store] it says, 'We're going to drug test you before we hire you, so don't apply if you do drugs.'"

Kids love dogs, right? Having a drug sniffing dog check out their clothing, lockers, purses, and book bags isn't nearly as upsetting as searches by police. The dogs are usually brought in without notice each semester. Students are per misted to play with them after the work is finished. It's important to turn these activities into positive experiences whenever we can. After all, there's no reason kids should be upset by these little safety precautions.

Random locker searches--fairly commonplace in inner-city schools--are being increasingly employed nationwide. These searches don't often turn up drugs or "other contraband," primarily because students no longer leave any personal items in their lockers. But school officials know it is important to continue the searches anyway; students need to be reminded that zero tolerance means zero tolerance.

Methods being used to rid public schools of alcohol include bans on clothing with alcohol-related messages and the use of breath alcohol analysis machines. A handy $500, hand-held device detects one's level of alcohol. Any amount detected results in a suspension of a few days to a full semester, and most schools require offenders to undergo a "substance-abuse assessment and treatment program" before returning to school. When asked what would happen if a student refused to take a breath test, the vice-principal at a Washington school replied, "That's never happened. But if it did, my line would be, 'I can do this or the police can do this.'"

Then there are the surveillance cameras. System manufacturers recommend that medium-sized campuses install at least twenty-five--in classrooms, hallways, gyms, cafeterias, parking lots; on football fields and on each school bus. Surveillance systems are being wired into many new school facilities during construction. Said one student in a Texas district, "Everywhere you go, there's a camera right above you, watching. They're invading our privacy. It makes it feel like jail." When he's older, he'll realize how much safer he was because of those cameras.

A growing number of schools are hiring security staff to police student behavior and arranging daily visits by police officers. Kids say it makes them feel that the campus isn't "theirs" anymore. But they'll soon realize that the police are their friends and adjust to their presence.