OPINION

REYNOSO, J.

William G. appeals from an order declaring him a ward of the juvenile court pursuant to section 602 of the Welfare and Institutions Code. This order was based on the court's finding that William unlawfully possessed marijuana for purposes of sale in violation of section 11359 of the Health and Safety Code. William was placed on probation for a period of three years.

The issue presented is one of first impression for this court: What standard is required under article I, section 13, of the California Constitution and the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution to determine the legality of a search by a public school official of a minor student? Given the unique characteristics of the school setting and the important responsibilities that school officials have to all students, we conclude that the applicable standard is reasonable suspicion. We further conclude that the instant search did not meet the reasonable suspicion standard, requiring reversal of the trial court's judgment.

I.

On the date of the alleged offense, October 1, 1979. William was 16 years of age and a student at Chatsworth High School in Los Angeles. At approximately 1:10 p.m., Reno Lorenz, the assistant principal at Chatsworth, noticed William and two other male students walking through the center of campus. The assistant principal was at that time approximately 35 yards away from the students. As Lorenz proceeded toward the students, he noticed that William was carrying a small black bag, later identified as a vinyl calculator case, to which the students' attention was momentarily drawn. The case had what Lorenz thought was an odd-looking bulge.

Upon reaching the students, Lorenz asked where they were heading and why they were late for class. William did not have any classes after 12 noon. As Lorenz spoke, William placed the case in a palmlike gesture to his side and then behind his back. Lorenz asked William what he had in his hand, to which William replied, "Nothing." When Lorenz attempted to see the case, William said "You can't search me," and then, "You need a warrant for this." Following more discussion, Lorenz took William by the arm and escorted him to the assistant principal's office.

Lorenz sought a noon recreational aide to act as a witness. After repeated unsuccessful efforts to convince William to hand over the case, Lorenz forcefully took and unzipped it. Inside were four baggies of marijuana weighing a total of less than one-half ounce, a small metal gram weight scale, and some Zigzag cigarette papers. William stated that he was holding the contents of the case for someone else.

Lorenz immediately telephoned the police. Los Angeles Police Officer Stephen Henderson responded and placed William under arrest. The officer conducted a pat-down search for weapons and any additional contraband, and found $135 in William's pockets. This money was never introduced into evidence.

At the adjudication hearing William, through his attorney, moved to suppress the evidence obtained from his calculator case on the ground that the search was conducted illegally. William argued that public school officials should be subject to the constitutional proscriptions against unreasonable searches and seizures and that there was no reasonable basis for the instant search.

At the hearing Lorenz testified that he was employed by the Los Angeles City Board of Education and that his duties as assistant principal included assisting the school security agent, whom he supervised, in arresting juveniles for narcotics violations. He testified that it was usual for him to call in the police after making such arrests. While Lorenz had no prior information which led him to believe that William was in possession of marijuana, or that William had otherwise violated the law or a school rule, it was his standard procedure to question students who were not in class during regular class periods. Lorenz further testified that he would have called the school security agent, rather than the recreational aide, to assist him in searching William but the agent was not on duty that day. Officer Henderson testified that he had previously arrested many Chatsworth students for narcotics violations who had been turned over by Lorenz and the school security agent.

The juvenile court denied William's motion to suppress, based on a finding that the search conducted by Lorenz was reasonable under the circumstances, and that Lorenz would have been derelict in his duties had he not "done what he did." On appeal, William contends this ruling is reversible error.

William claims that Lorenz is a government agent to whom the constitutional limitations on searches and seizures should apply; that while searches conducted solely for school purposes may be subject to a reasonable suspicion standard, searches which are conducted for the purpose of juvenile adjudication or criminal prosecution must be based on probable cause; that the search conducted by Lorenz was not supported by probable cause or reasonable suspicion; and, therefore, that the evidence obtained by Lorenz is inadmissible under the exclusionary rule. The People argue that searches of students on public school grounds need be supported by only a "reasonable suspicion," even if conducted for law enforcement purposes, and that the search conducted by Lorenz met this standard.

II.

(1) It is well settled that minor students are "persons" under our state and federal Constitutions and therefore possess fundamental constitutional rights which the state must respect. ( Tinker v. Des Moines School Dist. (1969) 393 U.S. 503, 511 [21 L.Ed.2d 731, 740, 89 S.Ct. 733].) "Constitutional rights do not mature and come into being magically only when one attains the state-defined age of majority. Minors, as well as adults, are protected by the Constitution and possess constitutional rights." ( Planned Parenthood of Missouri v. Danforth (1976) 428 U.S. 52, 74 [49 L.Ed.2d 788, 808, 96 S.Ct. 2831].)

(2) Among these rights is the guarantee of freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures contained in the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and article I, section 13, of the California Constitution. ( In re Scott K. (1979) 24 Cal.3d 395, 400-403 [ 155 Cal.Rptr. 671, 595 P.2d 105], cert. den., 444 U.S. 973 [62 L.Ed.2d 388, 100 S.Ct. 468].) As we have previously noted, this guarantee is inferable from minors' constitutional rights to privacy, and their guarantee under the Fourteenth Amendment against deprivation of liberty without due process of law. ( In re Scott K., supra, 24 Cal.3d 395, 401, 402.)

As noted above, this court has not previously considered the scope of Fourth Amendment protections that should be accorded minors subject to searches by public school officials. (3), (4) While we recognize that the constitutional rights of minors need not always be coextensive with those of adults, it is well established that public school students do not shed their constitutional rights upon reaching the schoolhouse door. ( Tinker v. Des Moines School Dist., supra, 393 U.S. 503, 506 [21 L.Ed.2d 731, 737].) "The authority possessed by the State to prescribe and enforce standards of conduct in its schools, although concededly very broad, must be exercised consistently with constitutional safeguards." ( Goss v. Lopez, supra, 419 U.S. 565, 574 [42 L.Ed.2d 725, 734].)

III.

(5) The Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable searches and seizures applies only to governmental action. ( Coolidge v. New Hampshire (1971) 403 U.S. 443, 487 [29 L.Ed.2d 564, 595, 91 S.Ct. 2022].) The origin and history of the Fourth Amendment "clearly show that it was intended as a restraint upon the activities of sovereign authority, and was not intended to be a limitation upon other than governmental agencies. . . ." ( Burdeau v. McDowell (1921) 256 U.S. 465, 475 [65 L.Ed. 1048, 1051, 41 S.Ct. 574, 13 A.L.R. 1159]; see also Stapleton v. Superior Court (1968) 70 Cal.2d 97, 100 [ 73 Cal.Rptr. 575, 447 P.2d 967].) Thus, while the protection of the Fourth Amendment is not limited to action by law enforcement, but extends to all governmental action (see New Jersey v. T.L.O. (1985) 469 U.S. 325 [83 L.Ed.2d 720, 730, 105 S.Ct. 733, 740]), it does not extend to searches conducted by private persons.

(6) Our initial determination is therefore whether public school officials such as Lorenz are agents of the government to whom the constitutional proscriptions against unreasonable searches and seizures apply. Consistent with the United States Supreme Court's recent ruling in New Jersey v. T.L.O., supra, that public school officials are subject to the Fourth Amendment's proscription against unreasonable searches and seizures, we conclude that California public school officials are further subject to this proscription under article I, section 13, of the California Constitution.

The state Court of Appeal to first consider this issue concluded that public school officials are private persons and therefore outside the scope of the Fourth Amendment. In the case of In re Donaldson (1969) 269 Cal.App.2d 509 [ 75 Cal.Rptr. 220], marijuana seized by a high school vice principal pursuant to a warrantless search of a student's locker was held admissible in a subsequent juvenile proceeding. The court found the vice principal to be a nongovernmental agent because "the primary purpose of the school official's search was not to obtain convictions, but to secure evidence of student misconduct." ( Id., at p. 511.) The court relied on the in loco parentis responsibility of school officials to maintain discipline upon school premises. ( Id., at p. 513.) Although noting that the "acquisition of property by a private citizen from another person cannot be deemed reasonable or unreasonable," the court determined "[t]hat [because] evidence of crime is uncovered and prosecution results therefrom should not of itself make the search and seizure unreasonable." ( Id., at pp. 511-512.)

We find this reasoning and the conclusion that public school officials are not governmental agents untenable on two grounds. First, public school officials are clearly agents of the government by the very nature of their employment. They are employees of the state through its local school boards (Ed. Code, §§ 1040 et seq., 14000 et seq., 41000 et seq., and 45020 et seq.). Their qualifications, licensing and certification are controlled by state statute (§ 44000 et seq.). They are accountable to the State Board of Education (§ 33000 et seq.) to implement state-prescribed policies and curricula (§§ 51000 et seq., 8000 et seq.). Moreover, public school officials are charged with the education and supervision of children whose education is primarily funded by the state (§§ 14000 et seq., 41000 et seq.). These children, if between the ages of 6 and 16 and not within an exempted class, are compelled by the state to attend school (§ 48200 et seq.); their conduct is statutorily circumscribed (§§ 48900 et seq., 44807); and their discipline by school officials must conform to state statute (§ 49000 et seq.). The very nature of these responsibilities renders public school officials agents of our state and local governments.

The second basis for rejecting the Donaldson court's conclusion that school officials are private persons for purposes of the Fourth Amendment is that court's reliance on the in loco parentis doctrine. At common law, this doctrine was based on the individual delegation of parental authority to the private tutor or schoolmaster of one's child. This delegation was "such a fraction of the power of the parent committed to his charge, viz., that of restraint and correction, as may be necessary to answer the purposes for which he is employed." (1 Blackstone's Commentaries 453.)

An overemphasis of this doctrine ignores the realities of modern public school education. It can no longer be said that parents voluntarily delegate a portion of their authority to school officials, as parents are required under penalty of criminal sanctions to enroll their children in school (§ 48291). Moreover, the common law doctrine of in loco parentis has given way in this state to a statutory directive. Thus, public school officials act pursuant to statutory or governmental, rather than privately delegated, authority. As the United States Supreme Court reasoned, "[t]oday's public school officials do not merely exercise authority voluntarily conferred on them by individual parents; rather, they act in furtherance of publicly mandated educational and disciplinary policies . . . In carrying out searches and other disciplinary functions pursuant to such policies, school officials act as representatives of the State, not merely as surrogates for the parents . . ." ( New Jersey v. T.L.O., supra, 469 U.S. 325 [83 L.Ed.2d at p. 731, 105 S.Ct. at p. 741].) (See also Gordon J. v. Santa Ana Unified School Dist. (1984) 162 Cal.App.3d 530, 533-538 [ 208 Cal.Rptr. 657].)

Finally, that public school officials are governmental agents is underscored by the United States Supreme Court's application to such officials of constitutional restraints relevant only to state action. (See, e.g., Tinker, supra, 393 U.S. 503 [First Amendment]; Goss v. Lopez, supra, 419 U.S. 565 [due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment].) "If school authorities are state actors for purposes of the constitutional guarantees of freedom of expression and due process, it is difficult to understand why they should be deemed to be exercising parental rather than public authority when conducting searches of their students." ( New Jersey v. T.L.O., supra, 469 U.S. 325 [83 L.Ed.2d at p. 731, 105 S.Ct. at p. 741].) As the Supreme Court has stated, "[t]he Fourteenth Amendment, as now applied to the States, protects the citizen against the State itself and all of its creatures — Boards of Education not excepted." ( Board of Education v. Barnette, supra, 319 U.S. at p. 637 [87 L.Ed. at p. 1637].)

Given these considerations, we conclude that public school officials are governmental agents within the purview of both the Fourth Amendment and article I, section 13, and must therefore respect the constitutional rights of students in their charge against unreasonable searches and seizures.

IV.

At the same time, the right of all students to a school environment fit for learning cannot be questioned. Attendance is mandatory and the aim of all schools is to teach. Teaching and learning cannot take place without the physical and mental well-being of the students. The school premises, in short, must be safe and welcoming. As the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals stated in Horton v. Goose Creek Ind. Sch. Dist. (5th Cir. 1982) 690 F.2d 470, 480, certiorari denied 463 U.S. 1207 [77 L.Ed.2d 1387, 103 S.Ct. 3536]: "When society requires large groups of students, too young to be considered capable of mature restraint in their use of illegal substances or dangerous instrumentalities [to congregate in the public schools], it assumes a duty to protect them from dangers posed by anti-social activities — their own and those of other students — and to provide them with an environment in which education is possible. To fulfill that duty, teachers and school administrators must have broad supervisory and disciplinary powers." (Fn. omitted.)

The public school setting is one in which governmental officials are directly in charge of children and their environs, including where they study, eat and play. Thus, students' zones of privacy are considerably restricted as compared to the relation of a person to the police — whether on the street or at home. Further, the responsibility of school officials for each of their charges, the children, is heightened as compared to the responsibility of the police for the public in general. Thus, the approaches of the law, including constitutional law, must vary. That they must vary in no wise means that student privacy interests are less important or that school officials may be less sensitive to them. Thus, a student always has the highest privacy interests in his or her own person, belongings, and physical enclaves, such as lockers.

The balancing of competing interests to determine the scope of Fourth Amendment protections in a particular setting is well settled. (10) Whether a particular search is reasonable depends on a balancing of "the nature and quality of the intrusion on the individual's Fourth Amendment interests against the importance of the governmental interests alleged to justify the intrusion." ( United States v. Place, supra, 462 U.S. 696, 703 [77 L.Ed.2d 110, 118 103 S.Ct. 2637, 2642].) (7c) In balancing students' privacy interests with the governmental interests in promoting a safe learning environment, we conclude that searches of students by public school officials must be based on a reasonable suspicion that the student or students to be searched have engaged, or are engaging, in a proscribed activity (that is, a violation of a school rule or regulation, or a criminal statute). There must be articulable facts supporting that reasonable suspicion. Neither indiscriminate searches of lockers nor more discreet individual searches of a locker, a purse or a person, here a student, can take place absent the existence of reasonable suspicion. Respect for privacy is the rule — a search is the exception.

In sum, this standard requires articulable facts, together with rational inferences from those facts, warranting an objectively reasonable suspicion that the student or students to be searched are violating or have violated a rule, regulation, or statute. (Cf. People v. Loewen (1983) 35 Cal.3d 117, 123 [ 196 Cal.Rptr. 846, 672 P.2d 436], and In re Tony C. (1978) 21 Cal.3d 888, 893-894 [ 148 Cal.Rptr. 366, 582 P.2d 957] [investigative detentions]; Terry v. Ohio, supra, 392 U.S. 1, 21-22 [20 L.Ed.2d 889, 905-906] [stop and frisk for weapons].) The corollary to this rule is that a search of a student by a public school official is unlawful if predicated on mere curiosity, rumor, or hunch. (Cf. In re Tony C., supra, at p. 893.)

This standard is consistent with that recently adopted by the United States Supreme Court in New Jersey v. T.L.O.: "Under ordinary circumstances, a search of a student by a teacher or other school official will be `justified at its inception' when 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." ( 469 U.S. 325 [83 S.Ct. at pp. 734-735, 105 S.Ct. at p. 744], fns. omitted.) (11) We also adhere to the court's limitations on the scope of permissible searches under this standard: "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 age and sex of the student and the nature of the infraction." ( Ibid., fn. omitted.)

(12) Like the United States Supreme Court, we do not require that school officials obtain a warrant before conducting the types of searches herein described. "The warrant requirement . . . is unsuited to the school environment: requiring a teacher to obtain a warrant before searching a child suspected of an infraction of school rules (or of the criminal law) would unduly interfere with the maintenance of the swift and informal disciplinary procedures needed in the schools." ( 469 U.S. 325 [83 S.Ct. at p. 733, 105 S.Ct. at p. 743].)

(7d) A majority of courts in other jurisdictions have also adopted a standard of suspicion lower than probable cause in order to determine the legality of a student search by a public school official. (See Bilbrey v. Brown (9th Cir. 1984) 738 F.2d 1462, 1466; see also Comment, supra, 16 U.C. Davis L.Rev. 709, 723.) While the standard adopted by most of these decisions is "reasonable suspicion," some courts have adopted the standard of "reasonable cause to believe" (see, e.g., M. v. Bd. of Ed. Ball-Chatham C.U.S.D. No. 5 (S.D.Ill. (1977) 429 F. Supp. 288, 292), "reasonable grounds to believe" (see, e.g., State in the Interest of T.L.O., supra, 463 A.2d 934, 941-942), or simply require that the search be "reasonable" (see, e.g., State v. Young (1975) 234 Ga. 488, 496, 498 [ 216 S.E.2d 586], cert. den. 423 U.S. 1039 [46 L.Ed. 413, 96 S.Ct. 576]). While most of these decisions balance the interests of the student against in loco parentis responsibilities of school officials, we prefer, for the reasons previously discussed, to view these countervailing governmental interests as statutorily, rather than common law, based. (Accord, State v. Mora, supra, 307 So.2d 317, 319; Doe v. State, supra, 540 P.2d 827; People v. Ward (1975) 62 Mich. App. 46 [233, N.W.2d 180]; Horton v. Goose Creek Ind. Sch. Dist., supra, 690 F.2d 470, 480-481, fn. 18.)

The reasonable suspicion standard is more stringent than other "less than probable cause" standards for public school searches because it depends on objective and articulable facts. We thus reject those standards previously articulated by this state's Courts of Appeal (see In re Thomas G., supra, 11 Cal.App.3d 1193, 1196, 1199 ["reasonable"] and In re Fred C., supra, 26 Cal.App.3d 320, 324, 326 ["good cause"]), including the two-prong test apparently applied the instant case: "The first requirement is that the search be within the scope of the school's duties. The second requirement is that the action taken, the search, be reasonable under the facts and circumstances of the case." ( In re Christopher W., supra, 29 Cal.App.3d 777, 782.)

V.

(13) Finally, we must determine whether the search conducted by Lorenz met the standard of reasonable suspicion.

Lorenz articulated no facts to support a reasonable suspicion that William was engaged in a proscribed activity justifying a search. The record reflects a complete lack of any prior knowledge or information on the part of Lorenz relating William to the possession, use, or sale of illegal drugs or other contraband. (Accord, Bilbrey v. Brown, supra, 738 F.2d at pp. 1467, 1468; cf., In re Donaldson, supra, 269 Cal.App.2d 509 [student informant made purchase of illegal drugs from defendant at direction of school official]; In re Thomas G., supra, 11 Cal.App.3d 1192 [student informed school official that he had seen defendant ingest illegal drug and was acting "intoxicated"]; In re Fred C., supra, 26 Cal.App.3d 320 [student informant told school official that defendant was selling illegal drugs on campus]; and In re Christopher W., supra, 29 Cal.App.3d 777 [four students informed school official that defendant's locker contained a sack of marijuana].) Lorenz' suspicion that William was tardy or truant from class provided no reasonable basis for conducting a search of any kind. The record is also devoid of evidence of exigent circumstances requiring an immediate nonconsensual search.

Moreover, William's "furtive gestures" in attempting to hide his calculator case from Lorenz' view cannot, standing alone, furnish sufficient cause to search. (See People v. Superior Court (Kiefer) (1970) 3 Cal.3d 807, 817-818 [ 91 Cal.Rptr. 729, 478 P.2d 449, 45 A.L.R.3d 559]; Sibron v. New York (1968) 392 U.S. 40, 66-67 [20 L.Ed.2d 917, 937, 88 S.Ct. 1889].) Similarly, William's demand for a warrant did not create a reasonable suspicion upon which to base the search. Such conduct merely constitutes William's legitimate assertion of his constitutional right to privacy and to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. There are many reasons why a student might assert these rights, other than an attempt to prevent disclosure of evidence that one has violated a proscribed activity. A student cannot be penalized for demanding respect for his or her constitutional rights. (Cf. Tompkins v. Superior Court (1963) 59 Cal.2d 65, 68 [ 27 Cal.Rptr. 889, 378 P.2d 113].) If a student's limited right of privacy is to have any meaning, his attempt to exercise that right — by shielding a private possession from a school official's view — cannot in itself trigger a "reasonable suspicion." A contrary conclusion would lead to the anomalous result that a student would retain a right of privacy only in those matters that he willingly reveals to school officials.

We therefore conclude that Lorenz' search of William's calculator case was conducted illegally, and that the evidence obtained thereby was inadmissible in the proceedings of the juvenile court. (See People v. Cahan (1955) 44 Cal.2d 434, 445 [ 282 P.2d 905, 50 A.L.R.2d 513]; Mapp v. Ohio (1960) 367 U.S. 643, 655 [6 L.Ed.2d 1081, 1090, 81 S.Ct. 1684, 84 A.L.R.2d 933].)

The order of the superior court declaring appellant a ward of the juvenile court pursuant to section 602 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is reversed.

Broussard, J., Grodin, J., and Kaus, J., concurred.