Were my childs civil liberties/civil rights violated?

Question

15 year old son goes 2 school in washington county, PA.
Was in a bathroom stall taking a whiz. Teacher looked into the crack between stall wall & door, told my son he was busted for smoking,& to go to the office. Son walked out of the stall, pants still undone, told the teacher that he was pi@#ing not smoking My son went to the office When he got to there, the principal searched Sons pockets,lifted up his pant legs so his socks could be seen, son voluntarily took his shoes off & let them be inspected.(nothing was found, no cigs, or lighter,nothing) The principal took son to his locker searched it extensively, they found nothing. Son comes home from high school; told me he was suspended for three days & would have to go in front of our local magistrate.Son told me he felt violated, because the teacher looked into the stall? I talked to the teacher, he said he didn't see him with a cig, but the bthrm was smky.Son has no reason to lie,we don't approve but we know he smokes. Violated/Not?

Answer 1

Our civil liberties are taken away every day. It started with employers being able to randomly search the body through drug testing. It is entering the school system with unlawful searches of children's lockers. when these first started and people were interviewed about these new procedures - the answer was always the same " If they have nothing to hide then they should allow it" - Each time a right is removed from our Constitution -IE freedom from search and seizure without due process of the law we lose a piece of our Countries forefathers intended ideology.

Yes his civil liberties were violated and yes the search was unlawful, however we Americans are asleep at the wheel letting it happen.

Each small law that takes away a guaranteed right leads to creating a Government with greater power over its citizens.

One day if we do not wake up I see a Government that will be allowed to enter our homes at random. Many would disagree, but one need only look at other countries histories to see similarities as rights were slowly lost - One to mind Nazi Germany.

Answer 2

The technical answer to this question is no. Your son did not have his civil liberties violated in any way. Schools are built on private property, and as students are minors, they have no rights whatsoever while they are on the campus. The school has a right to search any student's car, backpack, locker, or anything else they want to look at. Many schools also get students on "challenging authority", which can be cited in almost any situation.

While this is true however, it is possible your son has been wrongfully accused. Whether or not it matters, however, is another question. Schools rarely spend any time looking into whether they made a correct assumption on punishing a student.

Ethically and practically, your son quite possibly had his basic rights violated. Despite this, however, he did not technically have any of his rights violated due to the special status of school property and authority over its students. Unfortunately there isn't much to be done other than attempt to reason with the school's administration.

Answer 3

I don't see how the child's civil rights were violated at all. 100% better than leaving the child ALONE to be sure! They kept the father and child together - apart from all the others in the attempt to find someone to come for the child. I honestly don't see how they couldn't have done more than they did - except if they just plain ignored the immigration laws and didn't arrest the father for his known immigration violations - which would have been totally unacceptable. It isn't like the uncle that got the child didn't know that the parent was here illegally - else he wouldn't have even thought to go to the officials after hearing about the raids to arrest those that had broken the immigration laws. Just another case of the ACLU supporting known criminals over law abiding citizens.

Answer 4

Get a lawyer, no adult person should be peeking in the stall at an underage person ever!!! if the teacher had suspicion, he should have waited till youre son left the stall and then questioned him, plenty of evidence is still present at that point, and then to take it as far as doing a search of his locker is invasion of privacy.

Answer 5

Yes! Get a lawyer, make a big deal of it, protest. The teacher shouldn't have peeked in the stall, and they can't suspend him if there was no proof. They can't suspend everyone using a smoky bathroom.

Answer 6

I wouldn't let this go without a fight.......contact the school board at the very least, no one should be "peeking" when a kid is "peeing"......this is school, not a drug test by a professional. Did your son turn his pockets out on his own? Was he physically touched by anyone without his permission? Where there witnesses for these inspections? Don't let them walk away without being forced to take notice of their actions.

Answer 7

Yes, his rights were violated. Also, the search was improperly performed. You need to contact an attorney RIGHT NOW. His discipline record IS accessible by colleges and universities and can keep him from going to a school of his choice.

Answer 8

I am an educator and at no time would I ever do what that teacher did. I leave that stuff alone and let the campus officer and administrators handle it. You need to consult legal help.

Answer 9

Absolutely, ma'am. Get a lawyer like the other answerers said.

Answer 10

I doubt it. A school is not a democracy, the adminstration is given a lot of leeway to regulate behaviour in any way they see fit, short of corporal punishment.