Student searches legislation gets hearing Tuesday in North Carolina

(The Center Square) – Lawmakers on the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday will review legislation to set parameters on student searches in schools.

Republican-sponsored Senate Bill 90 will…

(The Center Square) – Lawmakers on the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday will review legislation to set parameters on student searches in schools.

Republican-sponsored Senate Bill 90 will receive a hearing in the Judiciary Committee Tuesday morning following changes in the Senate Education Committee last week that removed some provisions in the legislation.

SB90 would require the governing bodies of public school units to adopt policies requiring that searches of students be conducted in private by one school official and one adult witness who are the same sex as the student being searched.

The legislation would require the policies to be consistent with state law, regulations and both the U.S. and North Carolina constitutions.

“All searches performed by school officials in accordance with policies shall be executed using methods that are narrowly tailored to be as minimally intrusive as possible while investigating the suspected activity,” the bill reads.

SB90 initially included other provisions regarding cavity and strip searches when it was introduced in mid-February, but both were removed from the bill in an education committee hearing last week.

“Cavity searches and searches that require a student to completely disrobe are prohibited,” the stricken language read.

Another provision that was removed centered on how schools would determine the sex of students being searched to align with the sex of officials conducting the search.

“The sex of the student shall be determined by the sex assigned at birth as reflected in the student’s official record, unless the student’s parents provide written notice to the school that a different designation is appropriate,” the language read.

A summary of SB90 on the General Assembly website notes “the U.S. Supreme Court has held that the Fourth Amendment prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures applies to searches conducted by public school officials and developed a two-pronged reasonableness test to determine the legality of a search,” citing the 1985 case New Jersey v. T.L.O.

“For a search of a student by a school official to be legal, T.L.O. requires that searches be justified at the inception (based on reasonable suspicion that the search will turn up evidence of a violation of a law or school rule) and permissible in scope (reasonably related to the objectives of the search and not excessively intrusive in light of the age and sex of the student and the nature of the infraction),” the summary read.

SB90 is sponsored by Republican Sens. Michael Lazzara of Onslow County, Amy Galey of Alamance County, and Vickie Sawyer of Iredell County, along with five Republican co-sponsors.

If approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee, SB90 would head next to the Committee on Rules, Calendar and Operations of the Senate.