The safety of students is a top priority in any educational setting, and after the threat at State High was thwarted, security was ramped up. Teachers, administrators, and security staff were searching student bags. Yet teachers should not be the ones tasked with this responsibility if this process were to remain long-term. Instead, schools should rely on trained security staff to maintain both safety and peace of mind.
Teachers are educators, not security officers. Allowing teachers to conduct this search through personal belongings could potentially disrupt the student-teacher relationship. Trust is vital in education, so when students begin to see teachers as enforcers rather than mentors, it can destroy the positive connection between them.
“I feel like they’re not as trained to do bag checks as a security guard would be. In my experience, at least, a lot of times when I’m going through the metal detectors and I’m getting my bags searched, they’re very vague,” freshman Claire Campbell said. “They kind of just put their hand in there, move it around a little bit, and then I’m clear to go. I feel like that would be very unsafe, and I feel like with that kind of protection, it would be very easy to bring something in.”
One of the biggest concerns voiced by students was the lack of training necessary to conduct searches properly. Security personnel and police go through specific training on how to search bags while respecting privacy laws, recognizing potential threats, and de-escalating tense situations. A teacher may inadvertently violate a student’s rights or fail to identify a dangerous item.
“After the first day that I participated in the bag searching [a student] mentioned that I could not have had enough time to receive training and they were right. I had received no training, so I, on my own, went and sought some training,” Learning Enrichment & Gifted Support Teacher Jen Rand said. “I talked to the school resource officer, and I actually talked to several other teachers who were there who watched videos on how to search bags.”
Mornings in schools are already chaotic, with teachers preparing lessons, greeting students and managing administrative tasks. So asking them to spend additional time searching bags diverts their attention and energy from education. During the bag search, the start of the school day was also delayed.
Others were concerned if the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) would have any effect on the bag checking process. FERPA is a U.S. federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. Enacted in 1974, it applies to all schools that receive federal funding, from kindergarten through higher education. FERPA gives students and parents certain rights to access and control over student education records.
“I don’t think there are any FERPA considerations that come into play in relation to teachers looking through students’ bags,” Rand said. “And I will say that, we, as teachers, were not instructed to take anything out of bags, except for if we found something that was concerning and could be used as a weapon.”
The fact that teachers and admin were searching student bags wasn’t an ideal situation, but considering that this process is not long-term, it seems acceptable and understandable why the staff were participating. Yet in the future, if new safety procedures are to be implemented next year, they must create a balance between protection and preserving the educational environment. Teachers should be left to do what they do best: educate, support, and inspire. Let the trained security professionals handle the rest.
