Are Student Cell Phone Records Discoverable?

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Article on Law.com on LTN News by Joshua Engel.

Are student's cell phone records required to be disclosed to authorities.  This is illustrated in the recent case N.N. v. Tunkhannock Area School District, Civil Action No. 3:10-CV-1080, U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.   In this particular case, a teenage student whom was not yet 18 had used a cell phone on school property in violation of the school's policy.  The phone was taken by school administrative officials, and inappropriate photos were found in the phone, however the photos had not been uploaded to the internet.  The student was compelled to take a re-education course regarding sexual victimization, under the threat that failure to do so would result in child pornography charges.  The student is now suing alleging a violation of her First and Fourth Amendment rights.   This case will hopefully provide some additional clarity to situations such as these, and when school officials have the right to search through the contents of a student's cell phone, or other mobile data device.