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Talofa! Welcome to American Samoa.
It is with great pride and joy to have you visit our school system here in our island territory.


 

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With the alarming increase of drugs and weapons on American School Campuses, teachers, administrators, and school officials have stepped up their efforts to search school property, student possessions, and sometimes, student themselves. This trend has led to regular challenging state cases and a few; notably, the U. S. Supreme Court settled the 1985 landmark case, “New Jersey vs. T.L.O.”.

The courts primarily focus on protection of students’ constitutional rights, yet schools have been granted greater leeway in conducting searchers than police officers. Law enforcement officers must have a search warrant and meet a “probable cause” standard to conduct a search. The 4th Amendment of the U. S. Constitution set forth two requirements in response to protecting citizens against unlawful and unreasonable searches.

School officials, however, have successfully demonstrated to the courts that such stringent requirements would seriously impair the ability to maintain disciplined and a safe school environment. With this in mind, school officials are not required to obtain a warrant, but a required to meet the “reasonable suspicion” standard. School officials must remember: - any search of a student creates a 4th Amendment issue.

Student searches in American Samoa are also obligated to meet the “reasonable suspicion” standard in response to the 4th Amendment of the U. S. Constitution. Each new case poses its own particular scenario of events. Currently, there is no formula for determining that a search is reasonable; each case has different facts and circumstances. The following guideline points out specific factors to consider.
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 What are the specific facts used to justify a search?
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What was the scope and manner of the search?
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 Where was the search conducted?

The TLO case provides school officcials with a "two prong" test:
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 The search must be reasonble in inception.
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The search must be reasonable in scope.

Guideline to administer search and meeting a "reasonable suspicion" standard.
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 Searches must be based on reasonable suspicion that the studdent has violated a school policy, DOE policy, local law.
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Those responsible for conducting the search must be able to clearly articulate which DOE policy or local law has been violated. this would clearly establish that the search is reasonable in its inception.
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 The information that forms the reasonable suspicion must be clearly stated, recent, and credible in connecting the student to the violation.
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 Searches must be reasoable in light of the DOE school policy of American Samoa Code of Law that has been violated by the student.