Revision with unchanged content. In the last couple decades our public
schools have increasingly become se-curity-based in the wake of the
recent school shootings. In academic circles this recent amalgamation of
events and activities has been referred to as the safe schools movement.
This study explores the nature of the safe schools movement as a social
movement and examines its effects on the rights of public school
students through a case study. Findings indicate that the safe schools
movement has diminished the rights of public school students due to the
policies enacted by schools to ensure school safety. On a national level
and likewise in this case, the rates of suspensions and expulsions
increased while the violence and the incidents producing suspension
decreased. Judi-cial decisions also reveal school officials are afforded
wide latitude in con-ducting searches of students, and as such,
students' rights have eroded. This book is addressed to those in the
fields of education, political science, socio-logy and law. Moreover,
school administrators would be well served to read this book since it
taps into many issues faced everyday in our public schools.