GUIDELINES FOR STUDENT SEARCHES
IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS

As directed by 1999 General Assembly action (House Bill No. 1489), the Board of Education, in consultation with the Office of the Attorney General, was charged with developing guidelines for student searches.

To implement the General Assembly’s mandate, the Department of Education and the Office of the Attorney General jointly invited representatives from local school divisions, state agencies and professional organizations to participate. A national search was undertaken to identify guidelines developed by other states, finding that only Florida and New Jersey had guidelines. The New Jersey document was particularly helpful in light of the findings from the 1985 case, New Jersey v. T.L.O. As described in the fourth amendment and as interpreted in T.L.O. and subsequent court decisions, student searches must meet the standard of reasonableness as set forth in T.L.O.

The Virginia guidelines were developed as a technical assistance document outlining relevant constitutional and statutory principles to guide local school authorities in developing local policy and practice. They are not intended to be regulations that displace local discretion and authority.

The guidelines were approved by the Board of Education on November 18, 1999. The guidelines were submitted to the 2000 General Assembly.

The 2000 General Assembly passed legislation (House Bill No. 1445) to require school boards to develop and adopt regulations governing student searches and to be in effect for the 2001-2002 school year.

The Department of Education disseminated copies of the guidelines to school divisions (Superintendents Memorandum No. 9, dated March 17, 2000). Additional copies may be requested, at no cost, from Arlene Cundiff in the Office of Compensatory Programs at 804-225-2871. The guidelines may be also be viewed and downloaded (in PDF Format) here.