Purpose
The Board acknowledges the need for safe in-school storage of
books, clothing, school materials and other personal property and may
provide lockers and cabinets for such storage.
Authority
All lockers are and shall remain the property of the school district.
As such, students shall have no expectation of privacy in their lockers.
Students are encouraged to keep their assigned lockers closed and locked
against incursion by other students; but no student may use a locker as
a depository for a substance or object which is prohibited by law or district
regulations, or which constitutes a threat to the health, safety or welfare
of the occupants of the school building or the building itself.
The Board reserves the right to authorize its employees to inspect a
student's locker at any time for the purpose of determining whether the
locker is being improperly used for the storage of contraband, a substance
or object the possession of which is illegal, or any material that poses
a hazard to the safety and good order of the schools.
Prior to a locker search, the student shall be notified and given an
opportunity to be present.
Students shall be notified at least annually or more often if deemed
appropriate by administration, concerning the contents of this policy.
Students shall be required to sign a waiver in order to have the use of
a school locker.
Delegation of Responsibility
The Superintendent or designee shall develop procedures to implement
this policy which shall require:
- All requests or suggestions for the search of a student's locker shall
be directed to the school building principal who shall seek the consent
of the student and notify the student and he or she may call a parent/guardian
or another representative. The principal may appoint a third party to
be present at the inspection.
- The principal or representative shall be present whenever a student
locker is inspected.
- The principal shall open a student’s locker for inspection on
the request of a law enforcement officer only on presentation of a duly
authorized search warrant or on the voluntarily given consent of the
student.
- The principal shall be responsible for the safekeeping and proper
disposal of any substance, object or material found to be improperly
stored in a student’s locker.
- The principal shall be responsible for the prompt recording in writing
of each locker inspection; such record shall include the reason(s) for
the search, persons present, objects found and their disposition.
- Whenever the search of a student’s locker is prompted by the
reasonable suspicion that the contents create an emergency, the principal
may open the locker as soon as it is necessary to do so to discharge
properly his or her duty to protect the persons and property in the
school.
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