Does A School Have The Right To Confiscate...

[jdev]

For me yes, I save all my school files to my flash drive... She justifies this by saying it was in the class rules. I never recieved the class rules, as I was not here the first day of school.

not recieving the rules is not an excuse not to follow them. If I didn't read my town bylaws and broke the law/rules, should I expect not to be punished because I didnt read the rules/law?

Ignorance is not an excuse here. If it was in the rules that you are not allowed to use jump drives, then by all means, I would believe the teacher to be within their rights to confiscate it from you.

Now, the principal accessing the data without your consent, I am not sure that is legal. Do what Q said, file a police report, go get your stuff back, dont bring it back to school. Lesson learned.

*edit*

for future reference, you may want to try one of these:

http://www.freecom.com/ecBasket.asp?ID=1690

thats what I use. all of the data I put on the drive is password protected. you can also look into the biometric jump drives which require your thumbprint to access the data.

[slade]

the law tends to screw over kids/students... according to my teacher, the police can legally search your car if it is on school property. they do not have to have any probable cause, evidence, warrant, etc., they can just ask to search your car and you have to let them. in a public area/parking lot they cannot do that, you could just lock your car and walk away, and ignore them. aparently no one has challenged this law yet.

however, im pretty sure that that is unconstitutional, as with what happened with you. definately file a report. oh, and the teacher's "class rules" arent too relevant.

[gimp]

That sucks. The teacher sounds like a jerk.
You probably would have gotten a better reaction if you were nice to her though. Not saying "Mamm, I'm here to get something back that was stolen", and you probably shouldn't have argued with the principal.
People are stubborn, they don't want to admit to being a jerk, so they're gonna keep being one. You've got to learn how to play the game. No matter how stupid someone may be, and no matter how much they tick you off, you've got to say what they want to hear. That's how you get what you want. He is the principal, he doesn't really have to respect you. His job is to protect you and get you educated.
And think about what's going on from his point of view. Some teacher confiscated a usb drive from a kid in class for whatever reason. The kid is very desperate to get it back, to the point where he is swearing. Hmmm, maybe he wants it back for a reason. There might be something on there he doesn't want us to see.... Maybe something that's going to harm the school network, or do something to grades. Who knows.
I don't know how the laws work, but it seems like the principal had a reasonable excuse to look on that usb drive. Maybe if he were to follow the correct legal path he would have called the police and said "I have reason to suspect that something malicious (sp?) is on this usb drive, can you take a look at it". That would make it even worse.
Just food for thought.

[PyRo]

the law tends to screw over kids/students... according to my teacher, the police can legally search your car if it is on school property. they do not have to have any probable cause, evidence, warrant, etc., they can just ask to search your car and you have to let them. in a public area/parking lot they cannot do that, you could just lock your car and walk away, and ignore them. aparently no one has challenged this law yet.

however, im pretty sure that that is unconstitutional, as with what happened with you. definately file a report. oh, and the teacher's "class rules" arent too relevant.

The police can't search your car without a warrent unless you wave your rights. Maybie in your state some lower court decided that it was constitutional for them to do so but any half decent lawer should be able to get that law shot down. More than likely your teacher says that to scare you into not having anything in your car or to wave your rights should the police want to check.

Now if you signed a student code of conduct or anything like that without reading it you may have waved your rights. But all you have to do is tell the police officer you don't want them in your car and the police have to stop. Now the school can penalize you for violating the code of conduct but you arn't in any legal trouble.



And you have to learn how to apease people. You should have appologize and been nice until you got the disc back. Once it was in your hand then you can go on with whatever whineing you want to do.

[Boski51]

Were you using the file on the schools computer? If so you are up a creek.

When using school or work computers, you are not given the expectation of privacy that you think you have. Read the privacy policy of the school district and that will tell you everything you need to know.

Disrespecting the principle is not a great idea, no matter what respect you think you have coming to you.

[Echo419]

Where can i go to look into laws.

::edit:: The flash drive was in, but not active

[PyRo]

Where can i go to look into laws.

::edit:: The flash drive was in, but not active

http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Welcome/index.cfm

http://www.flsenate.gov/Statutes/index.cfm?Mode=View%20Statutes&Submenu=1&Tab=statutes

[TheDuelist]

What exactly are these?

(some stupid programs I use at friends houses)

[wad04]

i think you're not telling us the whole story. my question is: what was on the flash drive? IE: "stupid programs used at my friends house"

i'm not trying to be a jerk, but i'm just trying to understand this.

[Lohman446]

Public schools often take far too much authority, she did not have the authority to seize your personal non-offensive / non weapon from you in the school. Even if she did he most certainly did not have the right to look at it.

However, when you starting cussing him, and throwing your little hissy fit about being "disrespected" you lost all credibility in the argument. I had one situation somewhat similar to this, when I mentioned calling my parents down before we continued the conversation in a calm manner things instantly went my way. You have minimal authority over even our possessions in school unless your 18, your parents have far more legal standing. You should have insisted they be called immediatly when this started, rather than trying to argue with an adult yourself - you simply will not win those arguments.

There in the wrong... I would file the report - actually I would have your parents file the report for you. I would then look up the legal form for a demand letter, fill it out, and send it registered mail to them. That should get there attention pretty quick.

[tsc]

As long as you're in school that isn't college, you have no rights. Simple as that.

If you had executables on the drive, or anything that is against the school computer use policy, you voided even the most tenuous hold on a claim to private property that you may have had; it becomes contraband, and they can confiscate it.

[wad04]

tsc is exactly right, you have almost 0 rights at school.

[WenULiVeUdiE]

Wow, my school actually gives out flash drives and encourages us to save our school files on them. The US I CP History classes have their textbook's on them even.

Honestly, Echo, you over reacted with the cursing. That seems to be just too far. They can confiscate it, but I do not think they can look in the files, like everyone said. Then again, is that any different from looking through a student's notebook and finding something like a hitlist or finding nothing at all?

Edit- Now that I think about it, is it possible the teacher thought you were hacking the computer or something? Maybe she saw a screen she has never seen before and assumed the worst. Therefore, this may have caused suspsicion of hacking or some other violation of the school's computer policy. Maybe she thought the program was on the drive?

[tsc]

Wow, my school actually gives out flash drives and encourages us to save our school files on them. The US I CP History classes have their textbook's on them even.

That's the difference,though. School texts are just that. I'm willing to bet money that the usage policy says you can't install anything on the school computers, and if the teacher had suspicion enough to look..

[slateman]

Lets break this down, shall we?

During class today, web design class... I was saving my files to my flash drive, like i normally do... The teacher storms passed me and rips my flash drive out of the computer, writes a referall and sends it to the office...

Eh, not much to go on here. If its against the rules to have/use it, than its gotta be written somewhere. If not, than, its not really a rule.

Im already pissed because she knew I had it the whole year, the only reason she was mad is because this black kid across the room threw a keyboard... My teacher is racist and won't rite them up... So she takes it out on me.

Teacher is racist and WON'T write them up? Is she black?

Anyway, so after school I go to Student Services, I say firmly.. Mam I am here to get something back that was stolen, I tell her my name... She laughs and simply says have your mom come get it... Now the reason this is such a big deal is because i NEED it for work today, or I can't get it done..

After 30 minutes of searching for someone to listen to my problem, finally I just go back to student services, the lady now decides to walk down the hallway and get the principal to talk to me... He brings up all my past problems, and bla bla bla... Im pissed at this point, cussin him because he's disrespecting me not listening to a word I say..

First mistake. You've clearly lost your cool. Cussing at principals and teacher is not the way to get them to listen to you. If you needed it for a school project, go get that teacher, explain that you don't have the stuff you need, and ask what he/she can do to help.

He leaves the room, for like 5 minutes... I go to see what he's doing, and wow the guy is looking at the files on MY drive, without my consent, invading my privacy. I say sir, what you are doing is illegal and you do not have the right to look at anything on there without asking me... He then tells me, oh because of what you have on here (some stupid programs I use at friends houses) your in a lot of trouble. I said bull Blank, you can't press crap against me when you break the law to get to my stuff in the first place... he laughs and replies, haha yah let me see your law degree... I say shutup let me see yours, he's all look heres my business card have you mom call you... I rip it and through it in the floor... This is when all the other assistant principals get involved... after many cuss words I am escorted from the building...

Ok, let me get this straight. You went to HIS school and used HIS computers and HIS network and HIS internet, and you don't think he has the right to check whats on the flashdrive? Uh yea he does. Just like he has the right to know what is in the locker he lets you use.

Then there are these "stupid programs I use at friends houses" Like what? In the age of viruses we live in, I don't think he was being unreasonable in asking what they were. And I know at least one of the local high schools has been hit in that way.

And then once again you lose your cool. The guy offered you his card. You should have taken it, pulled out your cell phone (or gotten to a pay phone), called your mom, CALMLY explained the situation, and asked her to stop by on the way home from work (or where ever she was) and please pick it up for you. Then, go find the teacher that the project is due for, and explain the situation to him/her.

But being a smartass to your principal, ripping up his card, and cursing him and others out is just . . . . juvenile. If you want to be treated like an adult, you have to treat others the same way. If I had been the principal, you would have been suspended for your temper tantrum. And if you do that kind of thing in the real world, they will most likely fire you.

Ok, now that I've given you some tough love, I completely understand your reaction. I remember being that age and it feeling like NO ONE IS LISTENING TO ME!!!! Because of that, you're on a short fuse. I understand your reaction. I've done it myself.

Here what I would do: Get this straightened out. Bring in your mom and the teacher who assigned the project. The go back and apologize, yes, apologize, to the principal. Tell him you got frustrated and flustered and you lost your cool. And you are sorry. No more.