DATE: Friday, April 25, 1997                TAG: 9704250055

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY SAREIT HESS, HIGH SCHOOL CORRESPONDENT 

                                            LENGTH:   85 lines

SCHOOL SEARCHS - AN ISSUE OF SAFETY VS. TRUST

AS APRIL SAUER stepped off her bus at school one morning during her freshman year, she felt tension in the air. Things were amiss. Administrators told her to stand next to the bus as they began to search students, waving a portable metal detector over their bodies and rummaging through their bookbags.

April thought they might not stop her - she was an average, good kid. Yet when they reached her, she was made to empty her bag and submit to the beepings of the metal detecting wand.

``I felt really uncomfortable standing there as I emptied my stuff. I felt violated. I was so angry and upset. I was completely innocent yet I felt like I was being accused of something wrong,'' said the 18-year-old Nansemond River senior.

Despite her anger, April succumbed to the first search and subsequent others. She chalked them up to the school's efforts to keep her safe.

But ask April how she would feel if her parents, in an effort to keep her safe, decided to rummage through the things in her bedroom.

``I would be really offended,'' April said. ``I think it is an issue of trust.''

Safety vs. privacy and trust.

Every day of their lives, teen-agers like April trade trust for safety as they submit to governmental intrusions, including school searches, curfew laws or smoking and drinking prohibitions. But is it a fair trade? Can schools and government trust young adults and keep them safe at the same time? Or, are laws and school searches necessary for a teen's well-being?

``You have to balance the issue of privacy with the issue of safety,'' said Judge William P. Williams, who presides over the Norfolk Juvenile and Domestic Court.

``The greater the danger to public safety, the less you should expect to keep your right to privacy. It is all a matter of a balancing act.''

But how do you strike that balance?

Take the school searches, for example. When Hampton Roads schools began the searches in 1991, they seemed like a harmless way to provide student safety. Many students accepted the searches, despite the discomfort they felt as they passed through metal detectors.

``I feel a little violated when I am searched at school, but I know it's for my own good,'' said Monica Taylor, 17, a senior at Woodrow Wilson High School in Portsmouth, echoing the comments of others. ``I would rather be searched and feel a little violated than have guns and drugs running rampant throughout my school.''

But searches have become more invasive, said Kent Willis, executive director of the state American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). He argues that school officials are abusing their right to protect students by employing excessive searches. The ACLU and three students have filed a lawsuit against Norfolk schools for their search practices.

``The problem today is that schools are using drug dogs and metal detectors to give them the probable cause that they need,'' Willis said.

``School officials should have reasonable grounds as to conducting a search and only then it should be done on an individual basis, not on a random search of property or students.''

That is what Iris Cabatit would like to see happen at Kellam High School in Virginia Beach. The 15-year-old sophomore said schools should only conduct searches on an individual basis, after they've received a tip or reasonable evidence of misconduct.

``They should wait until they suspect someone has something,'' Iris said. ``When they go through your personal stuff that violates your privacy. I know that it is for the safety and well-being of the students but still, they shouldn't have the right to make you get searched.''

According to most student handbooks distributed at the start of the school year, school officials have every right to search students, their lockers, desks and other storage facilities. Officials even have the right to search student cars if probable cause exists and the cars are on school grounds.

``Schools are not a good place to proclaim your rights,'' said Judge Williams. ``On a scale of one to 10, students have a one when it comes to privacy.''

That realization, said Monica and April, may be what propels students into wrongdoing. Simply telling a kid that he or she can't do something, they say, likely will strengthen his or her desire to disobey the law.

``It's like the forbidden fruit theory,'' April said.

``Maybe if we didn't have these laws against teens, then the hype over the dangers would go away and we wouldn't have a problem. But then again, kids are going to do whatever they want to do anyway. The good kids will stay home, and the bad kids will cause trouble no matter what the law is.'' ILLUSTRATION: Writer Sareit Hess is a senior at Kempsville High

School in Virginia Beach.

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