NCJ Number
103751
Journal
Executive Educator Dated: (September 1986) Pages: 18-22,30
Date Published
1986
Length
5 pages
Annotation
Balancing the need for school safety and security with a regard for the individual rights of students poses a classic dilemma for school executives.
Abstract
A growing number of schools are using breathalyzers, drug-sniffing dogs, hidden video cameras, and metal detectors to make schools safer. School administrators operate at a fine line between guardian and guard, protector and police, as a result of crime in the schools. Data indicated that an estimated 282,000 students are attacked in schools in a typical month. Drug and alcohol use in schools are widespread, and weapons are becoming increasingly common. Attempts to counter these trends by resorting to sophisticated surveillance and detection techniques have resulted in protests and lawsuits. In Detroit, the courts upheld the school's right to conduct weapon searches if students were warned of sweeps in advance. In Connecticut, the American Civil Liberties Union, while admitting the use of surveillance cameras to detect marijuana smokers was legal, questioned the ethics of this approach. In Florida, legal challenges have been raised to the use of polygraph testing on students, and stricter guidelines for its use have been issued. Finally, the use of urinalysis by schools has failed to pass muster on the grounds of the questionable reliability of results and because testing requirements violated students' privacy, due process, and freedom-from-unreasonable-search rights. In the end, administrators must make school safety and security decisions within their own moral and ethical framework when deciding which ends justify which means in a free society.