School Searches acceptable?

Ever watched a television show and got so mad at a character because you felt they were wrong in what they were arguing for? Well that happened to me when I watched the television show Brothers and Sisters last Sunday. Now I’m not an avid watcher of this show but I just so happened to see this one episode; it dealt with a family arguing over whether or not there should be random locker searches in schools. While this one lady was against it her whole family was for it. It was really interesting to watch especially because I am a supporter of it and I was curious to see how it played out. Now I am for the random school searches especially in middle and high schools because I have a twelve year old brother who I love and want to keep as safe as possible. I know the children who attend the schools may see it as an invasion of privacy but I do not think they are fully aware of what their actual rights are. On legalzoom.com it talks about that schools have the right to search lockers BUT they must have probable cause to do so. I also found the same statement made by nolo.com which gave the same idea that the Fourth Amendment will protect your privacy unless you give a reason to be suspicious. That being said I find the law to be very fair; I mean it would be very easy to turn this into a form of discrimination if we just let the schools pick random children to search for no particular reason. Teen violence is a very serious issue and does not need to be taken lightly. On teenviolencestatistics.com they report that as of the year 2000 they found 37 reported incidents of targeted school shootings. This is a big reason I would want searches to be made in schools. Safety is the key here but I want to make sure that there is no way that it can go wrong. Just like in the Supreme Court case New Jersey v. T.L.O (infoplease.com) where the school almost got in trouble when they went through the students purse without her permission. The Court ruled that kids do not have the same rights as adults and that the school has the right to step in and override the adolescence want for privacy if they have reasonable cause for doing so. This case also, according to infoplease.com , was used in other supreme court cases that lead to the involving of metal detectors and protective searches not only in schools but also in airport scanning and highway checkpoints for drunk driving. I also looked up the Shelby county website to see what it had to say about the issue. Not only does it say that they will punish children who are holding illegal items for others but they will be using metal detectors as well. Though they are using metal detectors they state that they must have no bias if it is a random screening and that the authorities will be present to ensure it as well. After looking at the Shelby county handbook I am pleased to see that they have already covered my issue and my brother will be taken care of will being in school.