Legal Question Of The Week - 2/21/13
By Attorney Thomas B. Mooney, Neag School of Education, University of Connecticut
The "Legal Question of the Week" is a regular feature of the CAS Weekly NewsBlast. We invite readers to submit short, law-related questions of practical concern to school administrators. Each week, we will select a question and publish an answer. While these answers cannot be considered formal legal advice, they may be of help to you and your colleagues. We may edit your questions, and we will not identify the authors. Please submit your questions to:legalmailbag@casciac.org .
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Dear Legal Mailbag:
I was having a nice relaxing afternoon until the call I just got from the police department. The sergeant told me that two detectives are on the way to my school to question two students and to review their discipline records. Apparently, the police suspect these students of drug dealing. I think that they are on the right track with one of them, but that student’s parents would lawyer up in a minute if I let them know about the impending “visit.” Should I just keep my mouth shut or do I have to call the parents?
Signed,
Cautiously Cooperative
Dear Cautious:
The police do not have the right to review student records except in certain circumstances (e.g., parent consent, subpoena, health and safety emergency). Also, the police do not have the legal right to insist upon questioning students at your school, and you should determine whether there is a board policy that applies to such situations. If you do allow the questioning, you may wish (but are not obligated) to call the students’ parents, because you act in loco parentis when you supervise students, and a parent would certainly want to know when their child is questioned by the police.
In any event, you should know that the police have specific obligations regarding parental involvement and/or notification in any questioning. Conn. Gen. Stat. Section 46b-137(a) provides that parents must be present for any police questioning of any student under the age of 16, and that any admission, confession or other statement made otherwise by such student will be inadmissible in any court proceedings concerning the delinquency of the student. As to students who are 16 or 17, such statements will be inadmissible unless the police have made reasonable efforts to notify the parent and the student is notified that “(A) the child has the right to contact a parent or guardian and to have a parent or guardian present during any interview, (B) the child has the right to retain counsel or, if unable to afford counsel, to have counsel appointed on behalf of the child, (C) the child has the right to refuse to make any statement, and (D) any statement the child makes may be introduced into evidence against the child.” Even then, the courts will still consider a number of factors in determining whether a confession or other statement will be admissible. Such factors include, but are not limited to the child’s age, intelligence and experience and the efforts made to notify the parents.
Finally, any time the police question students at school, there is the question of whether they are “in custody,” and as such are entitled to receive a Miranda warning before any questioning. In 2011, the United States Supreme Court vacated and remanded a case to the lower court after the lower court upheld police questioning of a student in school. The Court ruled that the student should be considered “in custody” (and entitled to a Miranda warning) if the student reasonably felt that he could not terminate the questioning and leave. J.D.B. v. North Carolina (2011). It is hard to imagine that a student surrounded by two police officers in the principal’s office would ever feel free to leave.
The "Legal Question of the Week" is a regular feature of the CAS Weekly NewsBlast. We invite readers to submit short, law-related questions of practical concern to school administrators. Each week, we will select a question and publish an answer. While these answers cannot be considered formal legal advice, they may be of help to you and your colleagues. We may edit your questions, and we will not identify the authors. Please submit your questions to:
_____________________________________________________________________________
Dear Legal Mailbag:
I was having a nice relaxing afternoon until the call I just got from the police department. The sergeant told me that two detectives are on the way to my school to question two students and to review their discipline records. Apparently, the police suspect these students of drug dealing. I think that they are on the right track with one of them, but that student’s parents would lawyer up in a minute if I let them know about the impending “visit.” Should I just keep my mouth shut or do I have to call the parents?
Signed,
Cautiously Cooperative
Dear Cautious:
The police do not have the right to review student records except in certain circumstances (e.g., parent consent, subpoena, health and safety emergency). Also, the police do not have the legal right to insist upon questioning students at your school, and you should determine whether there is a board policy that applies to such situations. If you do allow the questioning, you may wish (but are not obligated) to call the students’ parents, because you act in loco parentis when you supervise students, and a parent would certainly want to know when their child is questioned by the police.
In any event, you should know that the police have specific obligations regarding parental involvement and/or notification in any questioning. Conn. Gen. Stat. Section 46b-137(a) provides that parents must be present for any police questioning of any student under the age of 16, and that any admission, confession or other statement made otherwise by such student will be inadmissible in any court proceedings concerning the delinquency of the student. As to students who are 16 or 17, such statements will be inadmissible unless the police have made reasonable efforts to notify the parent and the student is notified that “(A) the child has the right to contact a parent or guardian and to have a parent or guardian present during any interview, (B) the child has the right to retain counsel or, if unable to afford counsel, to have counsel appointed on behalf of the child, (C) the child has the right to refuse to make any statement, and (D) any statement the child makes may be introduced into evidence against the child.” Even then, the courts will still consider a number of factors in determining whether a confession or other statement will be admissible. Such factors include, but are not limited to the child’s age, intelligence and experience and the efforts made to notify the parents.
Finally, any time the police question students at school, there is the question of whether they are “in custody,” and as such are entitled to receive a Miranda warning before any questioning. In 2011, the United States Supreme Court vacated and remanded a case to the lower court after the lower court upheld police questioning of a student in school. The Court ruled that the student should be considered “in custody” (and entitled to a Miranda warning) if the student reasonably felt that he could not terminate the questioning and leave. J.D.B. v. North Carolina (2011). It is hard to imagine that a student surrounded by two police officers in the principal’s office would ever feel free to leave.