How long are schools allowed to confiscate items from students?

Question

According to this question and the corresponding answer, schools are legally allowed to confiscate items from students. This is not considered theft, as the intent is not to permanently take the item away from the student.

My question now is, how long is a school allowed to confiscate items from a student? "Common Sense" would indicate something like until the end of the class, or the end of the school day - or more formally, until the student leaves the school building.

However, I recall teachers confiscating phones until the end of the week, and even refusing to hand them back upon the parent's request, citing that "the student would just play on their phone again anyways". I can't imagine that this is legal, or that a teacher has the authority to confiscate an item for longer than necessary.

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I am mostly interested in answers regarding Austria, but answers regarding other jurisdictions are accepted as well. Furthermore, I am talking about "general" items in a student's rightful possession. This excludes things like cigarettes, alcohol, weapons, etc., which may by themselves warrant different procedures.

Answer 1

According to regulation 373/1974 § 4(4) (which I presume is still in force due being amended in 2020), confiscated items must be returned by the end of Unterricht (unsure of exact translation, either end of class or school day):

Gegenstände, die die Sicherheit gefährden oder den Schulbetrieb stören, dürfen vom Schüler nicht mitgebracht werden. Derartige Gegenstände sind dem Lehrer auf Verlangen zu übergeben. Abgenommene Gegenstände sind nach Beendigung des Unterrichtes bzw. der Schulveranstaltung oder der schulbezogenen Veranstaltung dem Schüler zurückzugeben, sofern es sich nicht um sicherheitsgefährdende Gegenstände handelt. Sicherheitsgefährdende Gegenstände dürfen nur dem Erziehungsberechtigten – sofern der Schüler volljährig ist, diesem – ausgefolgt werden, wenn deren Besitz nicht sonstigen Rechtsvorschriften widerspricht.

This translates to (translation by @MechMK1):

Objects, which are a threat to safety or disturb the school proceedings, may not be brought along by the student. Such objects have to be handed over to the teacher upon request. Such taken objects have to be returned after the end of the end of the lesson or the course, or the school-related event, as long as the object is not a threat to safety. Objects which are a threat to safety must only be handed over to the parents or legal guardians - or, if the student is of age, the student - if the ownership of said object is not unlawful.

Thanks to Vienna lawyer Dr. Johannes Öhlböck who wrote an article pointing me to the regulation.

I'm not fluent in German and I can't find an explicit definition of Unterricht in the associated laws. Google currently translates it as lesson, but Duden has a broader definition close to "scheduled, regular instruction by a teacher" and the Vienna city website claims cell phones can kept until end of day.

Interestingly during research I found a Deutsche Telekom (T-Mobile) article stating that in 2017, a Berlin administrative court allowed confiscation of a cell phone through a weekend.

Answer 2

In the EU, education is the responsibility of individual Member States, there is no EU-wide law that I can find on the matter. However, Article 165 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union states:

The Union shall contribute to the development of quality education by encouraging cooperation between Member States and, if necessary, by supporting and supplementing their action, while fully respecting the responsibility of the Member States for the content of teaching and the organisation of education systems and their cultural and linguistic diversity.

I am unable to locate any specific Austrian law on the subject of schools being able to confiscate personal items from students and arbitrarily withhold them for undefined periods of time, partly because I don't read, write, or speak German and the English-translated database of Austrian law doesn't include anything specifically pertaining to education.

However, in the UK such matters are handled by Section 94 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006:

(1) This section applies where, as a disciplinary penalty—

(a) an item which a pupil has with him or in his possessions is seized, and

(b) the item is retained for any period or is disposed of.

(2) A person who seizes, retains or disposes of the item is not liable in any proceedings in respect of—

(a) the seizure, retention or disposal (as the case may be), or

(b) any damage or loss which arises in consequence of it,

if he proves that the seizure, retention or disposal (as the case may be) was lawful (whether or not by virtue of section 91).

so effectively they can keep the property for as long as they want and dispose of it too as long as the penalty complies with Section 91 of the same Act.

Answer 3

germany

In Germany, the exact rules depend on the Land (state), as education is regulated by them. However, the rules mostly seem to boil down to: "Confiscation is allowed to enforce discipline, but things must be returned as soon as practical."

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For example, In North Rhine-Westphalia the relevant law says:

(2) Zu den erzieherischen Einwirkungen gehören insbesondere [...] die zeitweise Wegnahme von Gegenständen [...]

Schulgesetz NRW, §53

Translation (mine, no guarantee):

(2) Among the disciplinary measures there are [...] the temporary confiscation of objects [...]

So confiscation of objects by teachers is explicitly authorized, however the confiscation must be "temporary". The law does not say what exactly "temporary" means, but it does say that measures must in general be "proportionate".

There is some clarification on the web site of the ministry of education:

Darf eine Lehrkraft einer Schülerin oder einem Schüler das Handy wegnehmen?

Auch die Wegnahme von Gegenständen ist als erzieherische Maßnahme ausdrücklich zulässig, wenn sie zur Aufrechterhaltung eines ordnungsgemäßen Schulbetriebs erforderlich ist (§ 53 Abs. 2 SchulG). Eine prophylaktische Wegnahme von Gegenständen ist nicht zulässig. Die Störung muss entweder bereits eingetreten sein oder unmittelbar bevorstehen und auf andere Weise nicht zu beseitigen sein (Grundsatz der Verhältnismäßigkeit).

Schulrecht - Ordnungsmaßnahmen; Erzieherische Maßnahmen

Translation:

Is a teacher allowed to confiscate a pupil's mobile phone?

The confiscation of objects is explicitly permitted, if it is necessary to maintain school discipline (§ 53 Abs. 2 SchulG). A preventive confiscation is not permitted. The disturbance [of discipline] must already have happened or be imminent, and must not be avoidable in a different way (principle of proportionality).

So while a teacher may confiscate objects, they must be returned as soon as the disruption of discipline has been resolved, which presumably means at the end of the school day at the latest.

Note that confiscation is explicitly not mentioned as a punishment, so this is not permissible. If, for example, a student repeatedly brings along an object that disrupts the lessons, then the school may not confiscate the items for a longer time or permanently. Instead, it must take other measures (also detailed in the law), such as temporary exclusion from school, or even expulsion.

Answer 4

united-states

Since it's been a month without any answers at all, I'll go ahead and give this a shot for the USA.

This lovely answer to a question I asked about in loco parentis details the exact authority by which schools confiscate items. I recommend reading it, user6726 does a great job, but it basically boils down to this: Schools can confiscate items to further the purpose of the school.

In other words, if the phone is distracting the student from the lesson, the teacher may take it away, so the student may learn. It's conceivable that a teacher may decide to hold onto it for the entire day, since it would likely prove to be a distraction in other lessons as well.

User6726's answer does not go into when it is appropriate to return the item, which I shall now try to touch on.

A failure to return the item to the parent could be seen as theft, provided that the parent is the actual owner of the phone and they do not intend to simply return it to the child for them to use during the lesson.

It gets stickier if the teacher sends the student home without the phone, arguing that a parent must come to pick it up. It isn't theft (intent to return), but they could incur some liability in the event something happens to the child and they were deprived of their ability to call 911 in a timely manner. (Since the child was not in school, the school retaining the phone could be argued to not be in furtherance of it's purpose).

Again, this is for the US, and mileage of these things likely vary in Austria.

Answer 5

The answer above is nails it pretty well. However, if the school states in a written agreement or clearly notifies that an item can be confiscated and/or disposed of, all of the responsibility is on the student.