Tennessee Code Annotated
Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-6-4203 (2026)
Legislative intent
✓ current as of May 2026
- (a) It is the intent of the general assembly in enacting this part to secure a safe environment in which the education of the students of this state may occur.
- (b) The general assembly recognizes the position of the schools in loco parentis and the responsibility this places on principals and teachers within each school to secure order and to protect students from harm while in their custody.
- (c) It is the intent of this part to extend further, rather than limit, the authority of principals and teachers to secure order and provide protection of students within each school.
- (d) The general assembly further recognizes that a rising level of violent activity and use of drugs is occurring in some public schools, especially in urban areas, and that these activities threaten the well-being of all students in those schools.
- (e) The general assembly further finds that:
- (1) The removal of dangerous weapons, drug paraphernalia and drugs from school property is necessary to lessen hazards to students and that removal can only be accomplished by searches of areas of the school buildings or grounds where those materials may be stored;
- (2) On occasions when the use of dangerous weapons or drugs has reached a life or health threatening level, searches of students themselves may be necessary to protect the larger student body, and that often the searches must be conducted in emergency situations;
- (3) Individual circumstances and local particularities require that individual principals must be relied on to exercise their professionally trained judgments in determining what action is appropriate within this part; and
- (4) The presence on school property of students with drugs in their bodies may pose a threat to the safety and well-being of that student and other students, may be disruptive of school classes and other programs and may interfere with the educational opportunities and progress of all students.
Acts 1981, ch. 368, § 2; 1983, ch. 397, § 2; T.C.A., § 49-9-403; Acts 1988, ch. 727, § 2; 1988, ch. 940, § 2.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 4
cases, 1996–2011 · leading case: Doe a v. Coffee Cnty. Bd. of Educ., 925 S.W.2d 534 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1996).
Doe a v. Coffee Cnty. Bd. of Educ., 925 S.W.2d 534 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1996). “T.C.A. § 49-6-4203 provides: Legislative intent.”
Doe v. Goodwin, 254 S.W.3d 428 (Tenn. Ct. App. 2007). “Whether T.C.A. § 49-6-4203 provides for a “savings [statute]” in cases involving abuse of school children covered under Tennessee’s Governmental Tort Liability Act (GTLA).”
Smith Cnty. Educ. Ass'n v. Smith Cnty. Bd. of Educ., 781 F. Supp. 2d 604 (M.D. Tenn. 2011). “We can imagine few governmental interests more important to a community than that of insuring the safety and security of its children while they are entrusted to the care of teachers and *616 administrators.”
Deborah Murray, Adm'r Ad Litem of the Est. of Terrance Murray & as Next of Kin of Terrance Murray v. Jeremy A. Bryant, LilliaMn Bryant-Miller, Kathy Herbst, Charllie Herbst & Metro Govt of Nashville (Tenn. Ct. App. 1997). “The appellant argues that since Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-6-4203 (a)(1) provides that “the removal of dangerous weapons .”
— Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-6-4203(a) — 2 cases
Doe a v. Coffee Cnty. Bd. of Educ., 925 S.W.2d 534 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1996). “T.C.A. § 49-6-4203 provides: Legislative intent.”
Doe v. Goodwin, 254 S.W.3d 428 (Tenn. Ct. App. 2007). “Whether T.C.A. § 49-6-4203 provides for a “savings [statute]” in cases involving abuse of school children covered under Tennessee’s Governmental Tort Liability Act (GTLA).”
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