School District Homepage
Policy Index

226. LOCKER SEARCH
Date Adopted: April 27, 1981
Date Revised: December 17, 1990

1. Purpose
 

  1. 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.

    2.  
2. Authority
 
  1. All lockers are and shall remain the property of the school district. Students are encouraged to keep their assigned lockers or cabinets 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 or which constitutes a threat to the health, safety or welfare of the occupants of the school building or the building itself.

    2.  
  2. The Board reserves the right to authorize its employes to inspect a student's locker when such employee has reason to believe that the locker is improperly used for the storage of contraband, a substance or object the possession of which is illegal, or any material which poses a hazard to the safety and good order of the schools.

    3.  
3. Delegation of Responsibility
 
  1. The Superintendent shall develop procedures to implement this policy which shall require:

    2.  
    1. All requests or suggestions for the search of a student's locker shall be directed to the school building principal.

      2.  
    2. Wherever possible, before opening the locker for inspection, the principal shall appoint a third party to be present at the inspection.

      3.  
    3. 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.

      4.  
    4. The principal shall be responsible for the prompt recording in writing of each locker inspection which record shall include the reasons for the search, persons present, object found, and their disposition.

      5.  
    5. Whenever the search of a student's locker is prompted by the reasonable suspicion that the contents of the locker create an emergency, the principal may open the locker as soon as it is necessary to do so to discharge properly his/her duty to protect the persons and property in the school.
Reference:

Pennsylvania Code 22, Section 12.15
School Operations Section 109.8