The United States Supreme Court has recognized that the school setting requires some modification of the level of illegal activity required to justify a search of a student or the student’s property (purse, backpack, locker, phone, etc.).

The Court has held that there are two general requirements for a school administrator to search a student or the student’s property: (1) the school administrator must have reasonable suspicion (a lower standard than probable cause) that the search will turn up evidence that the student has violated or is violating the law or the rules of the school; and (2) the scope of the search must be reasonably related to the objectives of the search and not be excessively intrusive in light of the age and sex of the student and the nature of the suspected infraction. See Safford Unified School District #1 v. Redding, 557 U.S. 364 (2009); New Jersey v. TLO, 469 U.S. 325 (1985).

For example, there must be a reasonable suspicion of danger or that the student has hidden contraband such as drugs in the student’s underwear to extend the scope of a school search from outer clothes, backpacks, and purses, for example, to underwear and the likely exposure of private body parts.

This standard is designed to allow school authorities to maintain order in their schools without unduly burdening those efforts and without authorizing unrestrained intrusions on the privacy of schoolchildren.

In Massachusetts, as in other states, the standard for conducting searches of students or their property in schools is guided by the decisions of the United States Supreme Court. Specifically, school administrators must have 'reasonable suspicion' to search a student or the student's property, which is a lower standard than 'probable cause' required by law enforcement. The search must also be proportional to the suspected infraction, considering factors such as the student's age and sex, and the nature of the suspected violation. This standard, established in landmark cases such as Safford Unified School District #1 v. Redding and New Jersey v. TLO, aims to balance the need for school safety and order with the protection of students' privacy rights. In practice, this means that a search must be justified by a reasonable belief that it will yield evidence of a school rule or legal violation, and the search must not be excessively intrusive. For instance, a search extending to a student's underwear would require a specific and reasonable suspicion that contraband is hidden there, given the heightened expectation of privacy in such areas.