Why should the San Ditmas High School win in the case Logan v San Ditmas?
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Why should the San Ditmas High School win in the case Logan v San Ditmas?
![incidents over the last two years-one on school property, another on his way home from school,
San Dimas High School has a serious gang problem. Three students were killed in gang-related
and a third in his neighborhood on a weekend. School officials, parents,
students, and the police have held a series of difficult school-wide meetings
about how to address this problem. In response, the school and police
created the "Gangs-Be-Gone" policy, which said that any student found to
be a gang member will be automatically expelled. Parents and students
approved the policy. The policy stated:
San Dimas's "Gangs-Be-Gone" Policy
In light of recent incidents, San Dimas High School will have a "zero tolerance" policy
of any gang involvement among an actively enrolled student. Any student suspected
of gang involvement will be subject to an investigation and possible expulsion hearing.
The investigation and hearing will be overseen by a panel consisting of the principal, a
member of the San Dimas Police Department, two students from the Student Council,
me the head of the PTA. In this hearing, the panel will present evidence against the
suspected gang member. If the panel unanimously determines that the evidence
demonstrates gang involvement, the student will be automatically expelled. A student
may choose to hire a lawyer, but the school will not provide one for him/her.
In order to enforce the policy, the principal (whose name is Mr. Ryan) instructed teachers to be "on
the lookout” for possible gang activity. Following Principal Ryan's instructions, a 10th grade social
studies teacher emailed the following information to Ryan: "I was in the faculty bathroom after
school, and there were a couple students talking in the hallway outside the door.
I'm not sure who it was (I couldn't recognize their voices), but I could hear them
loud and clear. They obviously didn't know I was in the bathroom. Anyway, they
kept talking about the 'Downtown Dragons' [the name of a local gang thought to
be involved in the murders]. Then they started talking about some of our students,
and it seemed like they were saying these students are in the Downtown
Dragons." The teacher reported 10 possible gang members whose names he overhead while in the
bathroom.
Based on this information, Principal Ryan searched the disciplinary records of these 10 students. Four of
the students had been suspended several times in the past for fighting and received numerous
punishments for disruptive classroom behavior and disrespecting teachers and administrators. The
principal then convened the panel to discuss the four students. When he mentioned the "Downtown
Dragons," the officer on the panel (Officer Rufus) mentioned how members of this gang are known to get a
dragon tattoo on their upper thigh as part of their gang initiation. All three members of the panel then
agreed to place these four students under intensive supervision.](/v2/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcontent.bartleby.com%2Fqna-images%2Fquestion%2F54d9ce3f-9e9d-4af8-a45e-4a5767efb423%2F2b5a67df-b09a-4c3e-9092-a7b3796e17fe%2F3qmxda5_processed.jpeg&w=3840&q=75)
Transcribed Image Text:incidents over the last two years-one on school property, another on his way home from school,
San Dimas High School has a serious gang problem. Three students were killed in gang-related
and a third in his neighborhood on a weekend. School officials, parents,
students, and the police have held a series of difficult school-wide meetings
about how to address this problem. In response, the school and police
created the "Gangs-Be-Gone" policy, which said that any student found to
be a gang member will be automatically expelled. Parents and students
approved the policy. The policy stated:
San Dimas's "Gangs-Be-Gone" Policy
In light of recent incidents, San Dimas High School will have a "zero tolerance" policy
of any gang involvement among an actively enrolled student. Any student suspected
of gang involvement will be subject to an investigation and possible expulsion hearing.
The investigation and hearing will be overseen by a panel consisting of the principal, a
member of the San Dimas Police Department, two students from the Student Council,
me the head of the PTA. In this hearing, the panel will present evidence against the
suspected gang member. If the panel unanimously determines that the evidence
demonstrates gang involvement, the student will be automatically expelled. A student
may choose to hire a lawyer, but the school will not provide one for him/her.
In order to enforce the policy, the principal (whose name is Mr. Ryan) instructed teachers to be "on
the lookout” for possible gang activity. Following Principal Ryan's instructions, a 10th grade social
studies teacher emailed the following information to Ryan: "I was in the faculty bathroom after
school, and there were a couple students talking in the hallway outside the door.
I'm not sure who it was (I couldn't recognize their voices), but I could hear them
loud and clear. They obviously didn't know I was in the bathroom. Anyway, they
kept talking about the 'Downtown Dragons' [the name of a local gang thought to
be involved in the murders]. Then they started talking about some of our students,
and it seemed like they were saying these students are in the Downtown
Dragons." The teacher reported 10 possible gang members whose names he overhead while in the
bathroom.
Based on this information, Principal Ryan searched the disciplinary records of these 10 students. Four of
the students had been suspended several times in the past for fighting and received numerous
punishments for disruptive classroom behavior and disrespecting teachers and administrators. The
principal then convened the panel to discuss the four students. When he mentioned the "Downtown
Dragons," the officer on the panel (Officer Rufus) mentioned how members of this gang are known to get a
dragon tattoo on their upper thigh as part of their gang initiation. All three members of the panel then
agreed to place these four students under intensive supervision.
Transcribed Image Text:ar
a
9
Sophomore Ted
Over several weeks, Principal Ryan collected the following evidence about Ted Logan.
First, Ted often wears green, a color known to be worn by the Downtown Dragons.
Second, Ted has several visible tattoos. Though no school official has seen the dragon
tattoo, he does have some tattoos that are similar to those worn by a former student (Bill
S. Preston), who was already expelled under the Gangs-Be-Gone policy. Third, Ted's
government teacher saw him sketching what appeared to be a dragon in his notebook.
Principal Ryan notified Officer Rufus about this evidence, and Officer Rufus decided to
follow Ted Logan after school. He tracked him to a McDonalds near the school, where the officer saw
him meeting with Bill S. Preston and other suspected gang members. Officer Rufus then saw Ted
texting on his phone. Immediately after this, Logan, Preston, and the others quickly left the
McDonalds and got in a car waiting outside for them. Later that evening, Officer Rufus received a
report that several members of the Downtown Dragons were involved in a shootout with another
gang 10 blocks from McDonalds.
Based on this evidence, Principal Ryan decided to search further. He waited for Ted to close his locker
for gym class, then once the locker room cleared he immediately opened the locker (the school
provided the lock so Principal Ryan knew the combination). Ted's phone was on top of his bag, in plain
sight. Since Ted had just used it, the phone hadn't locked yet. Principal Ryan looked through the
phone. First he scrolled through Ted's photos, and found several pictures of Ted with suspected gang
members, including Preston. He also found text messages between Ted and a girl who didn't attend
San Dimas. In it, Ted discussed one of the three recent murders after it happened. He wrote: "Ain't no
mystery why he's dead. Come at the Dragons, you gonna get got."
Principal Ryan called Ted to his office immediately, where Ted saw Officer Rufus was waiting. In his
office, Officer Rufus asked Ted if he was in a gang, and Ted said no. Principal Ryan then ordered
Ted to strip to his underwear so he could check for the dragon tattoo. Explaining that the school had
reason to suspect him of being a Downtown Dragon, Principal Ryan said, "If you'e not in the gang,
just prove it and we'll be done here." Ted then asked if he was free to go. Officer Rufus replied this
time. "When you answer my questions, yes. But not until then."
After the meeting with Ted, Ryan and Rufus convened an expulsion hearing under the
"Gangs-Be-Gone" Policy. The hearing, which lasted about an hour, was overseen by Mr. Ryan,
Officer Rufus, the head of the PTA, and two students in Student Council. The investigation panel
presented its evidence. Based on this evidence, the panel found that Ted was guilty and expelled
him. Ted and his mom couldn't afford a lawyer, so he was forced to represent himself in the hearing,
but he hadn't taken a Con Law class so didn't know his constitutional rights.
After his expulsion, Logan filed suit against the school for violating his privacy and due process
rights (based on the 4th, 5th, and 6th Amendments), and eventually the case made it all the way to
the Supreme Court, where our class will decide the outcome.
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