Nobody likes even the appearance of invading someone's privacy, which is what makes the whole debate about searching student lockers distasteful to most people.

That's why, while the state school board mulls over its position on searches, it's important to consider how far students should expect privacy rights to extend once they're on a public school campus.

Clearly, they can't expect their assigned locker space to be sacrosanct. It belongs to the school, which should retain the right to enter it without the burden of seeking a warrant or otherwise showing reason or suspicion.

The challenging part is in how to exercise that right: Locker searches could do more harm than good if they're pursued too aggressively.

Part of a school's mission is to prepare a child to be independent; a school could easily cripple that mission if it's constantly relaying the message that students are untrustworthy.

The school board is going to conduct hearings before adopting a final position, and members need to keep ears attuned to ideas about how the policy should be defined.

Wisely, the board already drew a bright line barring searches that are discriminatory on the basis of race, color, national origin, ancestry, sex (including gender identity and expression), religion, disability or sexual orientation.

But there are other potential wrinkles to iron out. For example, the locker itself may be an extension of the school's public space, but the student's private property inside — notebooks, textbooks backpacks, gym bags — deserve more consideration. Drug-sniffing dogs — the board also approved their presence on campus — would help schools pinpoint the location of drugs without embarking on a random search of student possessions.

In addition, the policy should mandate that students be made fully aware that the lockers are not their private space. Disclosing to students where their rights begin and end is also part of the education process that must not be overlooked; it communicates to students that they're deserving of respect.

Civil liberties advocates have warned that suspicionless locker searches could invite lawsuits. While that's possible, there is certainly precedence for such searches in other school districts, Los Angeles and Seattle among them.

Like those communities, Hawai'i is coming to the sad conclusion that the drug epidemic demands more vigilance than was necessary in simpler times.

Locker searches, like drug tests for teachers, is one tool that should be available, but used with extreme caution.