Matthew J. Ruff Federal Criminal Law Blog on Lawyers.com

Yes.  In the case of New Jersey v. T.L.O. 460 U.S. 325 (1985),  the United States Supreme Court held that the 4th Amendment's prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures apply to school officials. However, the U.S. Supreme Court did not require the school to have probable cause for the search but rather a lower reasonableness standard. The search of a student by a school official will be justified at its inception where there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that the search will turn up evidence that the student has violated or is violating either the law or the rules of the school. And such a search will be permissible in its scope when the measures adopted are reasonably related to the objectives of the search, and not excessively intrusive.  If you are facing an school related arrested, contact an experienced criminal lawyer to defend you.

In that case, two freshman high school  students in New Jersey were caught smoking cigarettes in a school bathroom, an area not designated for smoking by the school.  A teacher escorted the two students to the Vice Principal's Office.   One of the students denied smoking and claimed that she did not smoke at all. The Assistant Vice Principal demanded to see her purse. Upon opening the purse, he found a pack of cigarettes and also noticed a package of cigarette rolling papers that are commonly associated with the use of marijuana. He then proceeded to search the purse thoroughly and found some marijuana, a pipe, plastic bags, a fairly substantial amount of money, an index card containing a list of students who owed respondent money, and two letters that implicated her in possession for sales of marijuana.

Subsequently, the  prosecutors office brought delinquency charges against the student in the Juvenile Court, which, after denying the student's motion to suppress the evidence found in her purse, held that the Fourth Amendment applied to searches by school officials, but that the search in question was a reasonable one, and adjudged student to be a delinquent.  The New Jersey Supreme Court reversed and ordered the suppression of the evidence found in respondent's purse, holding that the search of the purse was unreasonable.

The United States Supreme Court held that the Fourth Amendment's prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures applies to searches conducted by public school officials, and is not limited to searches carried out by police officers. The court noted that in carrying out searches and other functions pursuant to disciplinary policies mandated by state statutes, school officials act as representatives of the State, not merely as surrogates for the parents of students, and they cannot claim the parents immunity from the Fourth Amendment's strictures. 

The United States Supreme Court also held that School children have legitimate expectations of privacy and are protected against an illegal search by the police. They may find it necessary to carry with them a variety of legitimate, noncontraband items, and there is no reason to conclude that they have necessarily waived all rights to privacy in such items by bringing them onto school grounds. But striking the balance between school children's legitimate expectations of privacy and the school's equally legitimate need to maintain an environment in which learning can take place requires some easing of the restrictions to which searches by public authorities are ordinarily subject. Thus, school officials need not obtain a warrant before searching a student who is under their authority.

Moreover, school officials need not be held subject to the requirement that searches be based on probable cause to believe that the subject of the search has violated or is violating the law.  

The search of a student by a school official will be justified at its inception where there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that the search will turn up evidence that the student has violated or is violating either the law or the rules of the school. And such a search will be permissible in its scope when the measures adopted are reasonably related to the objectives of the search, and not excessively intrusive in light of the student's age and sex and the nature of the infraction.

Applying the above standard, the United States Supreme Court held that  the search in this case was not unreasonable for Fourth Amendment purposes. The Court noted that the initial search for cigarettes was reasonable because the  report to the Assistant Vice Principal that the 14 year old student Ms. TLO had been smoking warranted a reasonable suspicion that she had cigarettes in her purse, and thus the search was justified.  Moreover, the discovery of the rolling papers then gave rise to a reasonable suspicion that respondent was carrying marijuana as well as cigarettes in her purse, and this suspicion justified the further exploration that turned up more evidence of drug-related activities