Eight students in Cindy Conlon's Supreme Court course received a one-of-a-kind lesson about an institution with massive impact on society and education. They visited the Supreme Court on April 19 to hear argument in the case of City of Ontario, California, v. Quon.
The case raised an important privacy issue under the Fourth Amendment that has special relevance to schools. The Supreme Court considered the question of whether employees have privacy rights related to employer-issued pagers.
When Jeff Quon, a sergeant for the Ontario Police Department who had been issued a pager by his employer, exceeded the department's allotted text limit, his supervisors read his work-related and personal messages. He had been issued a pager on which he could send and receive text messages, and the department had told officers that the pagers were to be used for work purposes only but that "light personal use" was permitted.
The Supreme Court examined the question of whether Quon and the three people with whom he communicated using his pager had any expectation of privacy and, if so, whether the city conducted an unreasonable search in violation of the Fourth Amendment.
"The case is significant for a number of reasons," says Conlon. "First, there are millions of employees who have employer-issued cell phones and pagers. This case may set forth guidelines as to whether they can expect any of their communications on these devices to be private."
"Second, the case has special implications for schools, where administrators have a duty to keep students safe. The National School Boards Association argued in an amicus brief in this case that sexual predators often ‘groom' students prior to actual abuse by communicating with them through the use of cell phones, and that school administrators have a special need to be able to monitor their employees' cell phone communications."
During their visit to Washington, D.C., the students also met with legal counsel at the National School Boards Association to learn about how their organization helps local school board members develop education policy.
Students in the Supreme Court class learn about Supreme Court procedures by following an education case from its inception to its final resolution in the "court of last resort." Students also conduct research to assist the National School Boards Association in its project to file supporting briefs in education cases before the Court. To better understand the role of this institution that exerts enormous influence over citizens' lives, students use a variety of sources and examine from the perspectives of lawyers, political scientists and journalists.
Each year, students in Conlon's Supreme Court class have the opportunity to visit the Supreme Court. Conlon, who has a PhD from Northwestern and also a law degree, teaches two courses in the School of Education and Social Policy (SESP), Supreme Court and Legal Aspects of Education.
Photo caption:
At the Supreme Court in front of the statue of Chief Justice John Marshall are (left to right) Austin Pate (SESP), Kathryn Balestreri (SESP), Eric Whobrey, Megan Luczak (SESP), Amy Pooley (SESP), instructor Cindy Conlon, Gabi Schultz (SESP), Becca Cadoff (SESP), Analidis Ochoa-Bendana and Sharon Friedenbach (SESP).