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Policy under scrutiny reviews and outlines the procedures in matters of search and seizure of student's personal effects on school property - such as lockers, desks, purses, lunch boxes and parking lots - when there is reasonable grounds for suspecting that such a search "will produce evidence the particular student has violated or is violating either the law or the district's student conduct rules," according to board documents.

Board Vice President Alison Swanson and board member Brent Lightfoot expressed concern over a section of the policy re-titled "Student Accounts or Profiles on Social Networking Websites." The section of the policy reads:

"Although it is a rarely invoked and extraordinary...school authorities may request or require a student to provide a password or other related account information in order to gain access to the student's account or profile on a social networking website when there is a reasonable ground for suspecting that the student's account on a social networking website contains evidence that the student has violated or is violating either the law or the district's student conduct rules."

"I still have a problem with us requiring students to give passwords to social networking sites," Swanson said.

Lightfoot agreed, but said he believed the district is "required by statute to have such a policy."

Maureen Lemon, district attorney, said that Lightfoot was correct.

"I disagree with it, too," Lightfoot said of the statute, "but we have to have it."

Swanson asked if the policy had to state it was "by law" or "by the district's student conduct rules."

"It's both," Lemon said. "It's a verbatim recitation of what the law requires you to have as notice to your parents and students."

"In the working world this is not legal," Swanson said.

The rest is here:
Social networking password policy questioned