Teachers and principals can search a student’s cell phone or laptop when there is a “reasonable suspcision” that the student is violating the law or school policy, Virginia Attorney Ken Cuccinelli has ruled.
The advisory opinion was issued in response to a request from Del. Robert Bell, R-Albemarle.
Teachers not only could confiscate the phone or computer, but could read any messages on the devices. The search could not be “excessively intrusive in light of the age and sex of the student and the nature of the infraction,” Cuccinelli wrote.
If a school official discovers sexually explicit material involving an identifiable minor, they should not show it to anyone except an appropriate law enforcement agent, he wrote.
