How should it be handled?

Question

Staff at a suburban Chicago high school called 16-year-old Corey Walgren to the dean's office to ask about a video he made of himself having sex with a classmate. A few hours later, the teen walked to the top of a five-story parking deck and jumped.
The suicide of the honor-roll student underscored a dilemma for schools when confronting students suspected of recording and sharing sexual images. 
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Poll question: 
Should school officials wait until parents arrive to pose questions and search cellphones for illicit photos or video? Or do they, as de facto parents, have the authority to investigate crimes that might include child pornography?
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Source: https://www.yahoo.com/news/suicide-teen-made-sex-video-shows-dilemma-schools-154148868.html
(Included in case any of you care to read the entire news article. It was heartbreaking.)

Accepted Answer

I really hope my child knows the love I have for them and how they can trust me to advocate for them, before they ever feel like this. 
   
This breaks my heart.

Answer

The parents should be present bottom line they're a minor and the school is not law enforcement. Even law enforcement has to have parental consent 🙄 
This is sad.

Answer

Yes. They should because it is a minor. I remember something serious happening when I was in high school and being questioned without my parents and it was very harsh and intense. It's not okay in my opinion to do without the parents there.

Answer

My BIL had some beef with another kid at school a few years back, so this kid went and told a faculty member he had a gun. The school was put in lock down. My brother was detained, searched phone and person(no gun), interrogated and held at the school for 5 hours. No one called his parents. He wasn't allowed to call his parents. for 5 hours. My brother, being Mexican in a world where police officers are in the business of composting brown bodies, could have been hurt or killed and his parents wouldn't have even fucking knew. 
I don't think its okay to deal with situations like that, or this, with out that kids parents present. My situation was different, sure, there are protocols. but 5 hours? No.

Answer

Absolutely call the parents first. That should be the first step of the investigation. Why does is there such an immediate need for action? All it is is a sex video two teens made right? I get it's illegal, but is it really some kind of life or death thing that needs immediate action as though it were an emergency? Shouldn't both of the teens be called in, have their parents called, and counseled? Seems like a gross overreaction on the schools part.

Answer

This case is so terribly sad. I still don't understand why the school was investigating this.
I think schools often go too far in questioning students. Unless there is s suspicion of immediate danger (weapon, etc) I would want the school to contact the parent and ask them to come sit in the meeting. So many times kids are relentlessly questioned at school, in ways that would be unconstitutional if the police did it, and then that information is turned over to the police.

Answer

I think as an faculty member of a school you should absolutely be concerned about stuff like this. Although I do not believe they should have a right to look through their phones (going through their lockers I understand because it's school property) but I think I would have called the parents and the police before addressing the kid...

Answer

I think in time sensitive situations where evidence can be deleted the school should be able to search phone and lockers immediately. Any conversation that needs to happen should wait for the parents.

Answer

The parents should be present.

Answer

In cases that are not legal in nature the school should have the right to investigate. However, this case could've potentially led to the teen being registered as a sex offender for the act. I think it was definitely necessary to call his parents first. Law enforcement cannot talk to a minor without the presence of a parent or guardian. Those rules should've applied to this case. The school used scare tactics, which led to this teen taking his own life. Very sad case.

How should it be handled?

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