Case
Envelope of PTA money

A fourth grade student discovered that an envelope of PTA money that his mother gave him to give to the principal was missing from his backpack while he was in his classroom. The teacher asked everyone in the class to look for the envelope. When it was not found, the teacher requested that everyone empty their backpacks and jackets and be subjected to a search. The envelope of money was still not found. The next day, a set of parents filed a complaint with the school principal protesting the search of their daughter. Was this search reasonable under the circumstances? Why or why not?

Posted on: 09/09/14 | Views: 1448
Solution #1
Top Solution
The search was not reasonable under the circumstances. The teacher cannot search the book bags of the entire class and certainly not in the presence of other students. I would have asked the student to double check his book bag after none of the students admitted to finding the envelope with the money. Most PTA dues are generally three to five dollars. If there was no indication that someone may have taken the money, I would not have searched the entire class. This protocol is for the principal or other administration. I would inform the parents to make them aware of the loss.

I agree that searching the student's backpacks was not a good idea. I agree with asking the students to double check, but would have let the administration decide what to do further.

3-5 dollars is not worth upsetting 20 parents over unreasonable search.

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Solution #2
This is not a form of action a teacher should take independently. I think they should reach out to their administration to help carryout school policies.
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Solution #3
The teacher themselves probably should have gotten more administrative staff and gotten permission from the appropriate people before searching the kids. Another thing is the teacher should have thought about other possible ways of finding out where the envelope could have been before searching the students. Although the teacher was trying to find the envelope, it is never good idea to invade students' privacy.
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Solution #4
Many schools, even in the elementary level, have set policies regarding the appropriateness of searching students belongings and state that the search must be reasonable. That would be the question in this case; was the search reasonable? The teacher needed to first see if it could be determined when was the last time that he had seen the envelope, etc. Regardless of the amount of money (not stated in the scenario), the teacher asking for students to look for it would not be out of line. The children emptying their backpacks and jackets needs to be reviewed.
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