In Re Randy G.

In this case we are asked to determine whether school officials may detain a minor student on school grounds in the absence of reasonable suspicion of criminal activity or violation of a school rule. The minor, Randy G., contends that when school security officers called him out of class into the hallway, he was detained without cause in violation of his rights under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The Court of Appeal, relying on In re Frederick B. (1987) 192 Cal.App.3d 79 [ 237 Cal.Rptr. 338 ], applied the reasonable-suspicion standard to this encounter, which occurred on school grounds and during school hours, and found that it had been satisfied. We do not decide whether the record supports that finding of reasonable suspicion because we conclude instead that the broad authority of school administrators over student behavior, school safety, and the learning environment requires that school officials have the power to stop a minor student in order to ask questions or conduct an investigation even in the absence of reasonable suspicion, so long as such authority is not exercised in an arbitrary, capricious, or harassing manner. On this ground, we…

I concur. We face in this case a tension between two important considerations. On the one hand, teachers and school administrators have a solemn responsibility to protect the safety and well-being of our children and to ensure that schools can fulfill their educational mission. 1 On the other hand, minor children attending school, like all persons in America, possess rights under the Constitution. (See, e.g., New Jersey v. T.L.O., supra, 469 U.S. at pp. 333-334 [105 S.Ct. at pp. 738-739] [Fourth Amendment rights]; Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School Dist. (1969) 393 U.S. 503, 506 [ 89 S.Ct. 733, 736 , 21 L.Ed.2d 731 ] (Tinker) [First Amendment rights]; *570 Goss v. Lopez (1975) 419 U.S. 565 [ 95 S.Ct. 729 , 42 L.Ed.2d 725 ] [due process rights].) 2

The high court, while recognizing that students do not leave their constitutional rights “at the schoolhouse gate” (Tinker, supra, 393 U.S. at p. 506 [ 89 S.Ct. at p. 736 ]), has also recognized the need for balance in evaluating the scope of their Fourth Amendment rights, explaining that “maintaining security and order in the schools requires a certain degree of flexibility in school disciplinary procedures, and we have respected…

In this case we are asked to determine whether school officials may detain a minor student on school grounds in the absence of reasonable suspicion of criminal activity or violation of a school rule. The minor, Randy G., contends that when school security officers called him out of class into the hallway, he was detained without cause in violation of his rights under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The Court of Appeal, relying on In re Frederick B. (1987) 192 Cal.App.3d 79 , 237 Cal.Rptr. 338 , applied the reasonable suspicion standard to this encounter, which occurred on school grounds and during school hours, and found that it had been satisfied. We do not decide whether the record supports that finding of reasonable suspicion because we conclude instead that the broad authority of school administrators over student behavior, school safety, and the learning environment requires that school officials have the power to stop a minor student in order to ask questions or conduct an investigation even in the absence of reasonable suspicion, so long as such authority is not exercised in an arbitrary, capricious, or harassing manner. On this ground,…