Paulding County Board of Education Throws Out The Fourth Amendment

Paulding County Board of Education Throws Out The Fourth Amendment

AMENDMENT IV TO THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

I am not exactly sure what the government finds so confusing about the Fourth Amendment. It’s very straightforward and specifically states that law enforcement must have “probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” How could the Founding Fathers have been any clearer than that?
As everyone discovered recently, the NSA has been spying on Americans without “probable cause”. I see it all over social media websites on a daily basis and folks are extremely upset…and for good reason. But what about our local and state governments? Are they conducting “unreasonable searches and seizures”? YES!
Last week the Paulding County Board of Education announced that they are going to install a “Visitor Identification System” in all 34 schools in the county. Now before I go too much farther I want to clarify that I support background checks for faculty, staff and volunteers in our schools. I support common sense approaches to keeping children in our public schools safe. This new system however is ripe for abuse.
The electronic system will give school administrators the capability to complete instant background checks on anyone entering the schools. I understand that it is supposed to be for those volunteering and so forth, but there are no safeguards in place to protect parents from having a background check run on them when they show up for parent/teacher conferences. What if a parent just wants to have lunch with their First grader? Should they be subjected to a background check without “probable cause”?
If anything should show up in the background check, the person(s) will be required to “talk to an administrator” before being granted access to their child or child’s teachers, and even then…it is up to the discretion of the school administrator. This means that if you have been charged with “jay walking” and it shows up on the background check, you could be denied your God given right to confer with the teachers, eat lunch with your child(ren), or even attend a school play. You’ve done nothing wrong other than wanting to be an active participant in your child’s education and the Paulding County School Board thinks that is enough “probable cause” to run a background check on you.
It makes no sense to me that Georgia won’t allow teachers to complete extensive training and carry firearms to protect children in our schools, but they’ll make sure that every parent and grandparent has a background check run on them. We do need to protect our children in our schools, but not at the expense of giving up our Fourth Amendment right that protects us against “unreasonable search and seizure”.
The seven members of the board, the superintendent and the board’s attorney have gone too far with this decision. There were no public hearings. Parents were not made aware that they were even considering such a thing. They just did it because they’ve decided they know what’s best whether we agree or not. These eight members are exactly what is wrong with government today. They let their authority go to their heads and think they have the right to dictate whatever they want in our local schools without any input from the parents and community. Shame on these Republicans, these “so-called conservatives”, for being part of the problem instead of being part of the solution!
Here is a list of the board members and the attorney (complete with email addresses and phone numbers) taken directly from the school board’s website. Let’s make sure they know what we think of their decision to violate the privacy of parents and grandparents in Paulding County, Georgia!
Joe Watson, Chair                 
At Large
joesjr@bellsouth.net
770-445-7844 
Kim Curl, Vice Chair
District 6
kimcurlrx@bellsouth.net
770-445-2600 

Nicholas Chester
District 2
nick@chesterlegal.net
404-964-1789 

Kim Cobb
District 3
kimberlycobb@bellsouth.net
770-597-8211 

Theresa Lyons
District 1
phillipssalon@aol.com
770-557-4466 

Richard Manous
District 4
richardmanous@gmail.com
770-490-3109 

Sammy McClure
District 5
smymclr@bellsouth.net
770-445-1663 

Cliff Cole, Superintendent
Superintendent
superintendent@paulding.k12.ga.us
770-443-8000 

Tom Cable, Board Attorney
Board Attorney
tcable@trc-lawfirm.com
770-445-4439