Stevenson High School in north suburban Lincolnshire is in the midst of a drug investigation that has relied on confiscated student cell phones to identify suspects, a school spokesman said today.

Jim Conrey said school officials have looked at the phones’ text messages to assist in their investigation into drug sales on campus.

“That’s perfectly within our rights within the school,” he said. “If schools have credible evidence that cell phones are being used in some kind of trafficking … we have every right to take the phones.”

One student has been arrested and others have been suspended, he said, although he would not say how many, saying that could harm student privacy.

Read the full story: Chicago Tribune.