AIBU to ask if school can go through my son's phone?

[ejk10]

This hasn't happened to my son yet -but he thinks it might, and happened to some of his friends today.

Apparently a child has made a statement which the school is investigating (none of the boys have been told what the complaint is) and a teacher demanded to look through this boy's phone and deleted some information. My son has not been questioned but is friends with those who have been and is wondering if the school would ask to look at his phone.

I'm not sure of the legalities of this. Part of me thinks if he has nothing wrong why worry if they look - another part of me thinks it is a huge invasion of privacy. My son assures me he has done nothing wrong - regardless of whether he has or not I'm questioning if they have the right to look through private data.

Can anyone shed any light?

Oh well off the top of my head, unpleasant images involving staff or students, videos created of a child being upset or called names, films taken of teachers doing their jobs on duty, of gambling games not allowed in school. Screenshots of things they’ve seen that are inappropriate?

Ladyofthoch

How many of the people here starting their posts with the word ‘legally’ actually know what you’re talking about?!

Well interestingly enough one mum rang me once really angry her son and 2 friends had had his bag searched (they were asked to empty their bags on a table) and their lockers, when they had been bragging about having stolen something.

Mum said she was a lawyer and it was against the law to search his bag etc. I tried explaining that it was not but she wasn’t listening and insisted she was correct. As it was we didn’t recover the stolen item so either they hadn’t done it or had got rid of it. Anyway.
Later on I did a google search on her and it turns out she WAS a lawyer and so presumably should have known better. So I suspect there are a number of lawyers out there who possibly don’t know guidance schools have on what is and is not allowed.

I was really starting to doubt myself as well.

I would be asking your son why he thinks the school may ask to see his phone. And then I would check it. Unless your son has a job and paid for the phone himself, it isn't his. If you bought it or it's on a contract in your name, you could be held accountable for anything on it.
Phones in school are nightmares. The number of times parents have been into my school to complain about things their children's friends have posted is ridiculous. Some of the content is shocking!

What might they delete?
Just very quickly off the top of my head: a video of the teacher- nothing dodgy, I'd just hate to have a child have a video of me just teaching a class. So not a file that would need passing to police and so the phone would be handed back to the child, but I wouldn't want a video of me on a pupil's phone.

A video or pictures of a child in an embarrassing situation- falling over/ period stains/ unflattering face while eating. If the teacher suspects that they may well be shared to humiliate the other child then of course they should delete. Again- the phone wouldn't be going to the police, but may well go back to child or for their parent to collect. Why should an embarracing photo of my child be handed back to the pupil?

I work in a school and legally we are allowed to check a childs phone under the correct circumstances. In this instance it sounds like a photo/video has been taken of a teacher without consent so therefore the school has every right to search the phone

Co-operate with the school and if your son has done nothing wrong then nothing will come of it. If he has, it will be taken into consideration that he has done as he is told and cooperated with the teachers when thinking of an appropriate punishment

I'm not sure of the legalities but I've read if schools checking or confiscating phones when a girl has disclosed she's sent photos to her boyfriend and he's then shared them with his mates.

Could also be because of bullying another pupil on social media.

Can see why school wouldn't mention what they were looking for because people would just delete any inappropriate content they had on there, what was deleted from the other boys phone? Is the reason your son is worried because whatever has been deleted from the other kids phone has been shared with your son too. Ask your son what was deleted from the other boys phone and if it's nudes or harassment of a classmate for eg then ask if he's wondering if they'll look at his because his friend shared that content with him, it's probably better you son fesses up if he's also shared photos or encouraged/took part in bullying behaviour.

How old is your son? Do you monitor his online activity?

Yes they can take the phone and search it, yes they can delete things. Unfortunately this is often inappropriate images.

I’m not sure of the legality of this, but I would totally support the school in doing anything they feel they need to. Having a school full of hundreds of teenagers with phones is a minefield, and I’m happy with any measures the teachers feel they need to take in order to protect staff and students.

(I’m not a teacher btw.)

Have you taken the phone and looked through it yourself?

If he's this baited up about what might be found on there then he's deleted it already anyway surely?

As a parent, it would concern me more that my dc felt worried to hand over the phone - that would suggest there was something on it that could get them into trouble.

Good, a parent concerned about the issue of safe-guarding rather than spouting about 'me rights'.

I absolutely agree that if there are unsuitable, dangerous or explicit photos or videos on a phone the school should delete and take very strong action against anyone who had the photos or sent them. Believe me if that were the case the consequences for my son at school and at home would be severe and I would 100 percent support the school in the consequences.

I guess I am uncomfortable with the school just looking through a phone without stating why they are doing so and what they are checking for.

I am the safeguarding governor at my children's old primary school - so I understand fully the need to safeguard children - however without stating the reason to look through the phone this does seem like an invasion of privacy.

Think he will leave the phone at home tomorrow. Alternatively I have said that if the school does ask to see the phone he should ask the school to phone me and we can go through the phone together....

At my place of work (primary school) older children had, quite innocently, taken pictures of younger children leaving school at the end of the day. Some of these children were not to be on social media for safeguarding reasons. In this case the children were asked to go through pictures/videos on their phones with a teacher and any offending images deleted. A message was then sent out to all parents to clarify the phone policy of school.

Some students actually use their phones during lessons and take pics... I imagine if they are caught the teacher might want to see what pics they have taken etc etc.

Why do children feel the need to have a mobile out in a lesson anyway? Really wish more schools would ban mobiles or confiscate the things (so many are used for bullying etc etc)

All the people on here giving advice on how to stop/prevent the school from doing it... stop and ask yourself why.

Obviously there is something so grossly wrong on someone's phone that the school is having to take this step. Schools do not do shit like this without a reason. It's not like they enjoy creating random furores over nothing. Cooperate fully and help shut down whatever this is.

What are you doing about it in the meantime?

Yes they can and if a child refuses they can call the police to do it.

So have you gone through his phone yet? How old is he?

It should be done by a senior member if staff, trained in safeguarding and who has good reason to ask to see the phone.

Surely if you’re a safeguarding governor then you should understand that the school will have genuine reasons to want to go through the phone and stating why they need to could thwart any investigation as things could be deleted prior to handing it over or It could possibly cause distress for another party involved if details are disclosed.

I think leaving the phone at home could make him look more guilty. I think if he’s asked he should just hand it over. If he has nothing to find then great. If he does, then you and the school need to know.

I don’t think rights to privacy matter at all here.

I guess I am uncomfortable with the school just looking through a phone without stating why they are doing so and what they are checking for.

But they may have said why, just that the child didn't tell their mates.

I agree - cooperate fully.

One day if school are looking into something that has possibly been done against your son, or affecting him negatively, you won’t be happy with parents supporting their kids forgetting” their phones at home or “not remembering” the PIN number or “mum wants to check the phone with you”

These people are immensely busy. Trust me they have zero interest in teenage random screenshots and photos.

Also 100% what @sethis said.

I would go through the phone myself and just see if there is anything of concern. Then take it from there with your son if necesary or it may put your mind at rest if you find nothing. Looking at things a different way, if your son were the subject of video for example - you might be happy if the school were able to delete it from a students phone before it could be shared around. So we need to remember there are two sides to the privacy concerns we all have.

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/674416/Searching_screening_and_confiscation.pdf
This document details the legal position of schools regarding the searching of pupils and their belongings. your sons school is acting lawfully.