Students suspected of text-messaging friends or dealers about drugs have had their cell phones seized and searched by principals in some Denver-area schools, the Denver Post reported Feb. 23.

School officials said that existing policies that allow them to search lockers, backpacks, and student cars give them the authority to search cell phones for evidence of drug use, cheating, or other offenses. "We have found instances of texts that revealed both drug transactions ... as well as pornographic material stored in pictures," said John Stanek, an attorney representing schools in suburban Douglas County.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado, however, sees searches of cell phones a "dramatic and unprecedented invasion of students' privacy," according to legal director Mark Silverstein.

A similar policy proved highly controversial when it was announced last year at Framingham High School in Massachusetts. "The unpopular-ness of it was clear. We received calls from the ACLU," said vice principal Frank Rothwell. The school district later dropped the proposal on privacy grounds.

Allen Taggart, lawyer for the Jefferson County School District in Colorado, said that searches of cell phones can only be made based on reasonable suspicion that an offense had occurred. "If you have some indication that they're texting somebody else in class during an exam, in violation of the testing policy ... then you can look," he said. "If you look over a kid's shoulder and he's playing a game, maybe you wouldn't do that."

"We had an incident just within the last couple of weeks, and it did have to do with drugs, and we did read the cellphone text messages," said Edna Doherty, principal of Douglas County High School in Castle Rock, Colo. "The student admitted what he had been doing."

Taggart warned students that, "If you're using the phone in class, you're using it at your own risk. The principal may end up seeing stuff that you didn't want him to see."