Take Action - Say "No" to More Student Searches

UPDATE: On 9/20/2006, Congress passed the Student and Teacher Safety Act by voice vote! That's right: no record of who was explicitly in favor of it, and no representative objected to it. Call 202/224-3121 to ask your representative's staff to explain why he/she raised no objection to warrantless searches of students!

Students for Sensible Drug Policy is asking for your help to stop a bill that would further curtail the rights of students in public schools all across the country. The so-called “Student and Teacher Safety Act of 2006” (H.R. 5295) would make it easier for teachers and school administrators to search students’ lockers and bags for drugs and other contraband. SSDP needs your help to make sure that this bill never becomes law.

H.R. 5295 would allow school officials to search dozens or even hundreds of students based on the mere suspicion that just one student brought drugs to school. This kind of justification allowed police officers to storm a high school in Goose Creek, SC, in 2003, forcing dozens of students to the ground and pointing guns directly at their faces during a misguided raid in which no drugs were found.

This bill is nothing more than another attack on the constitutional rights of young people by the federal government. Students should never have to check their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse door.

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Link to FourthAmendment.com page
Link to Youth Policy Action Center Page