All lockers made available for student use on the school premises, including, but not limited to, lockers located in the hallways, physical education and athletic dressing rooms, industrial education and home economics classrooms and the art classroom, are the property of the school corporation. These lockers are made available for student use in storing school supplies and personal items necessary for use at school, but the lockers are not to be used to store items which cause, or can reasonably be foreseen to cause, an interference with school purposes or an educational function, or which are forbidden by state law or school rules. A student who uses a locker that is the property of the school corporation is presumed to have no expectations of privacy in that locker or the locker's content.

The student's use of the locker does not diminish the school corporation's ownership or control of the locker. The school corporation retains the right to inspect the locker and its contents to insure that the locker is being used in accordance with its intended purpose, and to eliminate fire or other hazards, maintain sanitary conditions, attempt to locate lost or stolen materials such as weapons, illegal drugs or alcohol, or any other material forbidden by school rules.
 

In order to implement the school corporation's policy concerning student lockers, the school board adopts the following rules and regulations:

1. LOCKS. The school corporation will retain access to student lockers by keeping a master list of combinations or retaining a master key. Students may not use their own locks to prevent access to lockers by school officials and any unauthorized locks may be removed without notice and destroyed.

2. USE OF LOCKERS. Lockers are to be used to store school supplies and personal items necessary for use at school. Lockers shall not be used to store items which cause, or can reasonably be foreseen to cause, an interference with school purposes or an educational function, or which are forbidden by state law or school rules, such as drugs (other than medicine for which a student has current prescription or common cold or headache medicine sold over the counter), drug paraphernalia, beverage containing alcohol, weapon, any flammable substance, bomb or explosive device, any pungent acid or nauseous chemical, any library book not properly checked out or overdue, unreturned gym or athletic equipment, any stolen items, any obscene material, or tobacco products that are banned by school rules or regulations. Students will be expected to keep their lockers in a clean and orderly manner.

3. AUTHORITY TO INSPECT. The school corporation retains the right to inspect lockers to insure they are being maintained in accordance with the conditions of Rule No. 2. All inspections of student lockers shall be conducted by the principal, his designee, or a member of the administrative staff designated in writing by the principal.

4. INSPECTION OF INDIVIDUAL STUDENT'S LOCKERS.
 

A. The inspection of a particular student's locker will not be conducted unless the principal or his designee has a reasonable suspicion to believe that the locker to be inspected contains items which cause, or can reasonably be foreseen to cause, an interference with school purposes or an educational function, which are forbidden by state law or school rules, or which pose an imminent and serious threat to health and safety necessitating the general search of part or all of the lockers, as set forth in Section 5 of this policy.

B. Before a particular student's locker is inspected, the student (or students if more than one have been assigned to a locker), if present on the school premises, shall, where practicable, be contacted and given the opportunity to be present during the conduct of the inspection unless circumstances require that the inspection be conducted without delay in order to protect the health and safety of others present on school premises. Whenever an individual student's locker has been inspected under this rule without the student's presence, the principal or his designee shall notify the student of such inspection as soon as practicable thereafter.

5. INSPECTION OF ALL LOCKERS.

 A. An inspection of all lockers in the school, or all lockers in a particular area of the school, may be conducted if the principal, superintendent or assistant superintendent reasonably believes that such an inspection is necessary to prevent, impede or substantially reduce the risk of:

(1) an interference with school purposes or an educational function,

(2) a physical injury or illness to any person,

(3) damage to personal or school property, or

(4) a violation of state law or school rules.

Examples of circumstances justifying a general inspection of a number of lockers are:

(a) When the school corporation receives a bomb threat;

(b) When evidence of student drug or alcohol use creates a reasonable belief of an unusually high level of student use;

(c) At mid-term, end of grading period, before school holidays to check for missing library books, or lab chemicals, or school equipment;

(d) When there is a reasonable belief that weapons are stored in the lockers.
 

B. If a general inspection of a number of lockers is necessary, then ALL lockers in the defined inspection area will be examined. Students will not necessarily be given the opportunity to be present while a general inspection is being conducted.
 

6. STUDENT MATERIAL. When conducting an inspection pursuant to these rules, the inspector shall take care to avoid disrupting the contents of the locker or intruding unnecessarily into any student's written material located in the locker. In addition, as to written material, the inspection will be kept to the minimum level necessary to determine that such material is not in itself, or being used to conceal, contraband.

7. DISPOSAL OF CONFISCATED CONTRABAND. All contraband confiscated from lockers may be disposed of by the principal or his designee as he or she deems appropriate, including:

(1) return to the proper owner or place, unless it poses a threat to health or safety;

(2) use as evidence in a student discipline proceeding if possession of the contraband constitutes a ground for suspension or expulsion under IC 20-8.1-5.1-8 and/or rules in this handbook;

(3) delivery to the appropriate law enforcement officials for prosecution purposes if possession of the contraband constitutes evidence of a crime; or

(4) destruction.

8. INVOLVEMENT OF LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS.

A. The principal, superintendent or assistant superintendent, may request the assistance of law enforcement officials to assist the school administrators in inspecting lockers or their contents for purposes of enforcing school policies only if such assistance is required:

(1) to identify substances which may be found in the lockers; or

(2) to protect the health and safety of persons or property, such as to aid in the discovery and disarming of bombs which may be located in the lockers.

B. The principal may cause a locker inspection to be performed for school purposes if information supplied by law enforcement officials gives rise to a reasonable suspicion that a locker or lockers contains contraband.

9. LOCKER CLEANING. Nothing in these rules shall affect members of the custodial staff, who at the direction of a supervisor, clean out:

A. lockers from time to time in accordance with a general housekeeping schedule, or

B. the locker of the student no longer enrolled in the school.

10. PUBLICATION OF RULES. A copy of these rules shall be provided to each student and his parents or guardian at the start of each school year or as soon as practicable after the student's enrollment in the school. Copies of the rules shall be posted in the principal's office and other prominent places generally used for announcements to students.

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