On Student Rights in the Year of Brown: A Legal, Psychological, and Policy Analysis

Fifty years after the landmark Brown u. Board of Educationl decision, we review student civil rights in the context of current educational policies and practices. Using the highly publicized drug raid at Stratford High School in Goose Creek, South Carolina, we analyze the legal and policy issues raised by the raid. As did Brown v. Board of Education, we evaluate the important psychological effects of school practices, and their impact on individual students, schools, and communities. We present our analysis of student civil rights in the post-Columbine context of schools, where concerns for student safety sometimes override concerns for student rights. Finally, we posit that an overemphasis on safety at the expense of student civil rights can be counterproductive when attempting to produce safe schools. We argue that for healthy student development and positive school and community relationships, student civil rights must remain a central concern for educational policy makers.