NEW MEXICO

MILITARY RECRUITMENT
In early 2006, the Albuquerque school district reached a settlement with the ACLU in which it agreed to notify parents of their right to keep schools from giving their children's contact information to military recruiters.  The school district agreed to put a form in student-registration packets that will let parents request that a student's name, address and telephone number be withheld from the military. 

SEARCHES
After a student in Dexter, New Mexico lost a diamond ring at school, teachers and the principal interviewed and then strip searched each student who had been present in the room.  In 2002 the New Mexico Supreme Court agreed with the ten students who brought suit against the school that their rights had been violated because the strip searches had been performed without individualized suspicion of wrongdoing.  The court said the searches  were not justified in their inception and were excessive in their scope.

DUE PROCESS
In 2007, a state appeals court ruled that a student in Las Cruces who was suspended for a year for possession on school grounds of marijuana and a ceremonial sword did not have the right to cross-examine three other students who gave evidence against him. The court held that allowing a student to confront witnesses could lead to ostracism and physical reprisals and would discourage students from reporting misconduct to school authorities.