by Malachi Wickman

Students everywhere should know what their rights are.  Do students in Atlantic High School know theirs?

Students of this generation have been told, “We live in a free country” and “We are entitled to our rights” ever since they were little. They also know of many people who dedicated their lives to fighting for their rights.

When asked if students should know their rights, senior Shannon Tedford said, “Yes, so I know what I can get away with.”

Even though we have been memorizing facts about our rights since elementary school, do we really know our rights as students?  After last year’s strip search controversy, many questions about student searches were raised.

Sophomore Matt Iekel commented on the strip search, saying, “I thought it was completely wrong, and now our school has a bad name for it.”

According to Iowa Department of Education, a school official is allowed to search a student if they think the search will produce evidence, and if the search is reasonable considering the student’s age and gender. School officials are allowed to search school property including lockers, desks, etc..  However, they must inform the students at the beginning of the year these searches may occur.

According to the law in Iowa, schools are never allowed to conduct strip searches, body cavity searches, or allow drug sniffing animals on students’ bodies. Nor may someone search a student of the opposite gender.

Regardless of what the rule may be, all rules are required to be written in student handbooks.  Many questions regarding school rules can be answered by looking in your student handbook.