Policy - JIH

POLICY: JIH

EFFECTIVE DATE:10/2/19

CANCELS SHEET DATED: 12/3/97

REVIEWED BY POLICY COMMITTEE: 09/18/19

STUDENT INTERROGATIONS, SEARCHES, AND ARRESTS

The RSU #74 Board recognizes its responsibility to ensure that discipline is maintained in the schools and that a safe, orderly environment conducive to the educational process is preserved. Therefore, school officials may conduct reasonable searches of students when, in their judgment, there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that the search will reveal evidence that the student has violated or is violating either the law or the policies or regulations of the school. The search must be reasonably related in scope to the circumstances which precipitated the search and must not be excessively intrusive in light of the age and sex of the student and the nature of the alleged infraction.

Police may enter schools if they have a warrant for arrest or search or if they have been invited by school officials. If they have a valid warrant to do so or if they have “probable cause,” they may search a student or his/her locker. In the absence of a warrant or probable cause of suspicion, police authorities have no right to interview students in the school building or to use school facilities in connection with official police work, nor does the school have any obligation to make students available to the police. If police wish to speak to a student without a warrant or probable cause of suspicion, they should be told by school officials to take the matter up directly with the student’s parent(s)/guardian. Lockers and desk spaces may also be searched by school officials in accordance with Policy JIHA.