Present law authorizes a school principal to order that vehicles parked on school property by students or visitors, containers, packages, lockers or other enclosures used for storage by students or visitors, and other areas accessible to students or visitors be searched in the principal's presence or in the presence of other members of the principal's staff. This bill requires that any such search be conducted by a school resource officer who is acting, for the purpose of the search, as a school official. Under present law, a student may be subject to physical search because of the results of a locker search, or because of information received from a teacher, staff member, student, or other person if such action is reasonable to the principal. This bill requires that any such search be conducted by a school resource officer who is acting, for the purpose of the search, as a school official. This bill also adds that, if a student is under 18 years of age, then the principal must notify the student's parent or legal guardian of the need to conduct a physical search of the student and receive the consent of the student's parent or legal guardian to conduct the search. This bill specifies that the present law authorization for a principal to order a search of property or a student's person does not authorize a search that violates the federal or state constitution.

Statutes affected:
Introduced: 49-6-4204(a), 49-6-4204, 49-6-4205(a), 49-6-4205