noting that the T.L.O. reasonableness standard was appropriate for a search initiated by school officials but conducted by law enforcement agents off of school grounds because a school official made the initial decision to search the student “in furtherance of the school’s interest in maintaining a safe learning environment, and because they asked officers to assist them in furtherance of that interest”
How later courts described this case
- noting that the T.L.O. reasonableness standard was appropriate for a search initiated by school officials but conducted by law enforcement agents off of school grounds because a school official made the initial decision to search the student “in furtherance of the school’s interest in maintaining a safe learning environment, and because they asked officers to assist them in furtherance of that interest”
- arguing that “Plaintiff was called into the SPAN office due to concerns about the possibility of another fight between African-American and Hmong students, as well as his own disobedient and disrespectful behavior,” such that the school was “doing exactly what the TLO standard was intended to permit”—keeping order in an educational environment
- applying T.L.O. to evaluate the legality of a search conducted by law enforcement officers in conjunction with school officials
- applying T.L.O. standard to law enforcement officers' search of student suspected of possessing a dangerous weapon where school *959officials initiated the investigation and search, even though the student was on a school field trip and away from "traditional school grounds"
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
JOHN R. GIBSON, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. I share the concerns the district judge articulated that a simple question to teacher/driver Schmitz would have rendered unnecessary the search of either Jason Shade or the other seven passengers on the bus. Schmitz later stated that the knife produced and turned over by Brandon Haugen to the police was the same knife that he saw through the rear view mirror in Jason Shade’s hand, being used to open a can of orange juice. This simple question and this answer render the search unreasonable and not justified at its inception. I would reverse.