How Safe Are Our Belongings in School?

   There have been many court cases regarding the Fourth Amendment right to privacy, but reading the four articles about school officials who went too far was incredibly interesting and surprising. One of the articles discussed a girl who was falsely accused of carrying drugs, and as a result she was strip searched by a school official. Interestingly enough, no drugs were found anywhere on her or her belongings. Although I believe that some searches must be allowed in schools in order for protection, strip searching a young girl based on another's unsupported accusation is wrong and unconstitutional. Despite the fact that privacy rights must sometimes be limited in schools in order to guarantee safety to the students, this strip search was not necessary. It must have been very difficult and embarrassing for the girl to go through that, and I think it is important for schools to realize that they do not have the authority to limit privacy rights to that extent.
   Another privacy issue that I read about was regarding the girl whose phone was searched by the principal. N.N. had her phone taken away when she broke the phone policy by using it during school hours. The phone was then sent to the principal, who spent time searching through her phone and the files on it. He had to go through multiple steps before finding a nude picture of N.N. He punished and suspended the girl based on the photo on her cellphone. I find this unconstitutional and it was not the principal's place to go searching through her phone. She got in trouble for talking on it, so all the principal was required to do was keep it in his office. He went out of his way to search through her phone, and this action was unnecessary and an inappropriate breach of privacy. Court cases have proven that searches in schools can be allowed when it is reasonable and there is probable cause. In this case, the principal had no reason to believe that N.N. was hiding anything illegal on her phone, and this proves that he did not have the right to go searching through it.
   Although I am in favor of certain privacy breaches, I believe that they should only be allowed when they are necessary for the protection and order of the schools. For example, if there is a bomb threat at the school, officials should be able to search through every student's backpack before they enter the school. This limits the student's privacy rights to their belongings, but it is crucial to have this search in order to guarantee safety. However, the three cases that were discussed in the articles are very shocking to me and I believe that in all three situations the officials went too far and the students were treated unfairly. School officials must be aware of the rights that the students have and it is unconstitutional for them to limit their privacy rights to a full extent.