Brousseau v. Town of Westerly

• Citation: 11 F.Supp.2d 177
• Decision Date: 11 June 1998
• Docket Number: C.A. No. 96-365-T.
• Parties: Sarah BROUSSEAU, a minor By and Through her parent and next friend Bethany BROUSSEAU v. TOWN OF WESTERLY, By and Through its Treasurer, Pasquale J. PERRI, Jr.; Joy Sacco, alias, individually and in her official capacity as Principal of the Babcock Middle School employed by the Town of Westerly; John Carson, alias, individually and in his official capacity as Assistant Principal of Babcock Middle School employed by the Town of Westerly; and Camille Martin, alias, in her official capacity as a lunchroom aide at the Babcock Middle School employed by the Town of Westerly.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Rhode Island

11 F.Supp.2d 177

Sarah BROUSSEAU, a minor By and Through her parent and next friend Bethany BROUSSEAU v. TOWN OF WESTERLY, By and Through its Treasurer, Pasquale J. PERRI, Jr.; Joy Sacco, alias, individually and in her official capacity as Principal of the Babcock Middle School employed by the Town of Westerly; John Carson, alias, individually and in his official capacity as Assistant Principal of Babcock Middle School employed by the Town of Westerly; and Camille Martin, alias, in her official capacity as a lunchroom aide at the Babcock Middle School employed by the Town of Westerly.

C.A. No. 96-365-T.

United States District Court, D. Rhode Island.

June 11, 1998.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Richard A. Sinapi, Sinapi Law Associates, Cranston, RI, for Plaintiffs.

Mark T. Nugent, Morrison, Mahoney & Miller, Providence, RI, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

TORRES, District Judge.

Bethany Brousseau brought this action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, on behalf of her daughter, Sarah, a sixth grade student in the Westerly school system. The gravamen of the complaint is that Sarah's Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights were violated by school officials when they conducted a warrantless search of Sarah and her classmates in an effort to locate a knife that was missing from the school cafeteria. The case presently is before the Court for consideration of cross motions for summary judgment.

The issue presented is whether the search was unreasonable. Because I find that the search was eminently reasonable under the circumstances, the plaintiff's motion for summary judgment is denied and the defendants' cross motion for summary judgment is granted.

Facts

The facts are simple and undisputed. The parties have stipulated that on January 10, 1996, Sarah and other students at the Babcock Middle School ate pizza for lunch in the school cafeteria. One of the cafeteria workers was unable to find a knife that was used to cut the pizza. The missing knife was approximately 13½ inches long and had a nine inch serrated metal blade.

These facts were communicated to John Carson, the assistant principal, who, along with another school administrator and several cafeteria workers, walked around the cafeteria looking for the knife. When they could not locate it, Carson asked any student who knew of its whereabouts to come forward. In the absence of any response, Carson obtained authorization from Joy Sacco, the school principal, to conduct a pat-down search of the students present in the cafeteria.

Male and female students were assembled in separate lines. Carson and another male teacher patted down the male students while two female lunch room aides patted down the female students. Sarah, who was then ten years old, was one of the students searched. Sarah's search took only a few seconds and consisted of patting the area in the vicinity of her front and back pockets and around her ankles.

The knife was not found during the search, but, later, it was discovered in an empty pizza box contained in a dumpster behind the cafeteria.

Discussion

Sarah asserts that the search of her person was unreasonable and, therefore, that it violated her rights under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. In addition, she alleges that the search violated both the Rhode Island Constitution's prohibition against unreasonable searches (Article 1, § 6) and R.I. Gen. Laws § 9-1-28.1(a)(1) which proscribes unreasonable intrusions into an individual's privacy.

The threshold question with respect to all of these claims is whether the search was unreasonable. Since the facts are undisputed, the parties agree that making that determination is a matter of law appropriate for summary judgment.

I. The Fourth Amendment

A. The Analytical Framework

The Fourth Amendment's prohibition against "unreasonable searches and seizures" is applicable to searches of students conducted by public school officials. New Jersey v. T.L.O., 469 U.S. 325, 333, 105 S.Ct. 733, 83 L.Ed.2d 720 (1985). However, determining whether a search is "reasonable" "depends on the context within which a search takes place [and] ... requires `balancing the need to search against the invasion which the search entails.'" Id. at 337, 105 S.Ct. 733 (quoting Camara v. Municipal Court, 387 U.S. 523, 536-37, 87 S.Ct. 1727, 18 L.Ed.2d 930 (1967)). Thus, in the public school setting, the "`reasonableness' inquiry cannot disregard the schools' custodial and tutelary responsibility for children." Vernonia School Dist. 47J v. Acton, 515 U.S. 646, 656, 115 S.Ct. 2386, 132 L.Ed.2d 564 (1995). Nor, can it disregard the fact that, in some respects "students within the school environment have a lesser expectation of privacy than members of the population generally." Id. at 657, 115 S.Ct. 2386 (quoting T.L.O., 469 U.S. at 348, 105 S.Ct. 733 (Powell, J., concurring)).

Accordingly, the Supreme Court has said that "the school setting requires some easing of the restrictions to which searches by public authorities are ordinarily subject." T.L.O., 469 U.S. at 340, 105 S.Ct. 733. More specifically, the Court has held that the relevant inquiry is whether, under the circumstances, "the search is one that a reasonable guardian and tutor might undertake." Vernonia, 515 U.S. at 665, 115 S.Ct. 2386.

There is no litmus test for determining whether a particular school search was reasonable. That task involves a two-part inquiry:

first, one must consider "whether the ... action was justified at its inception" ... second, one must determine whether the search as actually conducted "was reasonably related in scope to the circumstances which justified the interference in the first place."

T.L.O., 469 U.S. at 341, 105 S.Ct. 733 (quoting Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 20, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968)). The factors to be considered in assessing the reasonableness of a search are:

1. The nature of the privacy interest upon which the search intrudes.

2. The character of the intrusion.

3. The nature and immediacy of the governmental concern at issue.

4. The efficacy of the means employed in meeting that concern.

Vernonia, 515 U.S. at 654-60, 115 S.Ct. 2386.

B. Application to this Case

1. The Nature of the Privacy Interest

Not all asserted expectations of privacy are protected by the Fourth Amendment. The Fourth Amendment protects only those expectations "that society recognizes as `legitimate.'" Id. at 654, 115 S.Ct. 2386.

Whether a particular expectation of privacy is "legitimate" depends upon the circumstances. Id. Therefore, "while children assuredly do not `shed their constitutional rights ... at the schoolhouse gate,' ... the nature of those rights is what is appropriate for children in school." Id. at 655-56, 115 S.Ct. 2386 (quoting Tinker v. Des Moines Indep. Community Sch. Dist., 393 U.S. 503, 506, 89 S.Ct. 733, 21 L.Ed.2d 731 (1969)).

As already noted, a minor student who has been committed to the care and custody of school officials, has a somewhat lesser expectation of privacy than an adult member of the general population. Id. at 654-56, 115 S.Ct. 2386; T.L.O., 469 U.S. at 340, 105 S.Ct. 733. However, that does not mean that a student's privacy rights are nonexistent or that school officials may intrude upon them without sufficient justification.

In this case, Sarah clearly had a legitimate expectation of privacy regarding the contents of her pockets. She also had an equally legitimate expectation that she would not be subjected to a search that included unwanted and unjustified touching of her person. Thus, the real issue is the extent to which the search intruded on those expectations and whether there was sufficient justification for that intrusion.

2. Character of the Intrusion

The intrusiveness of a search is a function of both the manner in which it is conducted and the nature of the information that it discloses. Vernonia, 515 U.S. at 658, 115 S.Ct. 2386. There is no absolute requirement that the search be "the `least intrusive' search practicable [in order to] be reasonable under the Fourth Amendment." Id. (quoting Skinner v. Railway Labor Executives' Ass'n, 489 U.S. 602, 629 n. 9, 109 S.Ct. 1402, 103 L.Ed.2d 639 (1989)). However, the availability of less intrusive alternatives clearly is a consideration. See DesRoches v. Caprio, 974 F.Supp. 542, 550 (E.D.Va.1997).

In this case, the search was limited both in terms of the methods employed and the information revealed. Moreover, its scope was restricted to what was reasonably necessary to ascertain whether any of the students possessed the missing knife.

The search consisted solely of a "pat-down" of the areas around Sarah's pockets and ankles where a knife like the one reported missing might be concealed. Nothing was removed from her pockets nor were the contents of the pockets examined. Moreover, the students were patted down by school officials of the same gender and the search of each student lasted for only a few seconds.

In short, the extent to which the search intruded on Sarah's privacy was relatively limited and it was conducted in the least intrusive manner possible consistent with its purpose.

3. Nature and Immediacy of Governmental Concern

One cannot determine "in isolation" whether a particular governmental concern is sufficient to justify searches in general. Vernonia, 515 U.S. at 661, 115 S.Ct. 2386. The relevant inquiry is whether the concern in question is "important enough to justify the particular search at hand." Id. (emphasis in original).

In school searches, an assessment of the weight and urgency accorded to the governmental concern cited as justification for the search turns, largely, on the nature of the items that are the object of the search. The interest of school officials in searching for drugs or weapons, ordinarily, is deemed more compelling and of greater urgency than searches for other kinds of contraband "because of the need to protect the safety and welfare of...