Kelly Phaneuf, a former high school student in Plainville, Connecticut, appeals from a judgment of the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut (Alfred Y. Covello, J.) granting Appellees summary judgment on her claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 that her Fourth Amendment rights were violated when she was strip searched by school officials. Because we conclude that the strip search was not justified at its inception, and therefore was unreasonable under the attendant circumstances, we vacate the judgment and remand for further proceedings.
BACKGROUND
We draw the pertinent facts primarily from the opinion of the district court.
See Phaneuf v. Cipriano,
On June 7, 2002, the seniors at Plainville High School were scheduled to attend their senior class picnic at an off-campus location. Prior to their departure, school *593 officials performed a pre-announeed search of all students’ bags for security purposes. This search revealed a package of cigarettes in Phaneufs purse. She was legally entitled to possess them since she was over the age of eighteen, but school regulations prohibited the possession of cigarettes by students on school grounds.
A student named Michele Cyr reported to Cindy Birdsall, a physical education teacher, that Phaneuf told her and other students that she possessed marijuana. 1 According to Cyr, Phaneuf told her that she planned to hide the marijuana “down her pants” during the mandatory bag check. After receiving this information from Cyr, Birdsall reported the statement to the principal, Defendant-Appellee Rose Marie Cipriano. 2 Birdsall believed Cyr to be trustworthy, however the record does not reveal why Birdsall held this belief. Cipriano considered Cyr’s report reliable because Cyr at some point worked closely with the school’s staff as an office aid, though the record is unclear on the precise timing of when Cipriano held this belief. The clearest statement of what Cipriano knew about the tip prior to the search comes from Cipriano’s affidavit, in which she attested that “it was brought to [her] attention by a physical education teacher at Plainville High School Cindy Birdsall that a reliable student had informed her that Kelly Phaneuf had marijuana down her pants .... ” This does not indicate whether Cipriano knew who the “reliable student” was prior to the search. Though she testified at her deposition that Birdsall told her the names of the four students who allegedly heard Phaneufs statement prior to the search, Cipriano also testified at her deposition that she could not remember the names of the students after the search, and had to be reminded of Cyr’s name in particular, after the picnic.
Cipriano boarded the bus on which Phaneuf sat, and asked her to disembark. Cipriano and Birdsall led Phaneuf to the nurse’s office, explaining to her that a fellow classmate had informed them that she possessed marijuana. Phaneuf denied the allegation, but, according to the affidavit testimony of Cipriano and Birdsall, did so “in a manner that made both Cipri-ano and Birdsall believe she was lying.”
Phaneuf,
Once at the nurse’s office, Cipriano instructed the school’s substitute nurse, De-fendanh-Appellee Dorene Fraikin, to conduct a search of Phaneufs underpants. Cipriano ordered nurse Fraikin to “open and check” that area. Id. When nurse *594 Fraikin expressed apprehension about conducting the strip search herself, Fraikin and Cipriano called Phaneufs mother, Lisa Phaneuf, and asked her to come to the school to conduct the search. While waiting for Phaneufs mother to arrive, Cipri-ano searched Phaneufs purse, and found cigarettes and a lighter. As previously noted, possession of these items on school grounds violated school rules.
According to her affidavit testimony, when Phaneufs mother arrived at the school she expressed objections to the search but was told that if she refused to participate in the search, school officials would call the police. At that point she, Fraikin and Phaneuf went into a small room within the nurse’s office. Phaneufs mother conducted the search, while Frai-kin stood behind her. A closed curtain separated the doorway of the room from the common area of the nurse’s office. Phaneuf first raised her shirt and pulled down her bra to show that nothing was concealed there. 3 Phaneuf then dropped her skirt to the floor, around her ankles. Phaneufs mother asked Fraikin if this was enough, and Fraikin answered that it was not. Phaneuf then pulled her underpants away from her body and turned around so that her mother could view her buttocks. The parties dispute whether Fraikin watched the search. Fraikin maintains that her back was turned to Phaneuf and her mother throughout the search while Phaneuf contends that Fraikin watched. Phaneuf avers that she was “extremely upset and anxious before, during and after the search, to the point of being hysterical.” The search did not reveal marijuana. Immediately following the search, Pha-neufs mother drove her daughter home, but later drove her back to school. Cipri-ano then gave Phaneuf a ride to the picnic.
Phaneuf then brought suit in Connecticut Superior Court, alleging that her Fourth Amendment and various state law rights were violated when she was subjected to the strip search. The school officials removed the case to the District of Connecticut, and, following discovery, moved for summary judgment on the grounds that the strip search was reasonable and that they were entitled to qualified immunity.
The district court held that the search was reasonable under the standard articulated by the Supreme Court in
New Jersey v. T.L.O.,
The district court employed a two-step approach in reaching this conclusion. First, the court found that the school officials had reasonable suspicion to re-check Phaneufs purse because they had a “tip from a reliable student,” Phaneuf had “past disciplinary problems,” and Cipriano and Birdsall were “suspicious” of the manner in which Phaneuf denied the accusation she possessed marijuana. Id. at 80. Second, the district court then found that the discovery of the cigarettes and lighter in Phaneufs purse created a “higher level *595 of suspicion that [Phaneuf] could also be carrying contraband on her person,” which, in turn, “justified the extended level of intrusion necessary to conduct a search of Kelly Phaneufs person for evidence of drug possession in school.” Id.
The district court concluded the strip search was reasonable in scope because it was not excessively intrusive in light of the age and sex of Phaneuf, and the nature of the infraction. Specifically, the district court noted that the strip search was conducted in the relative privacy of Fraikin’s office, and only involved women, including Phaneufs mother. Furthermore, the district court held that the search was “reasonably related to the objectives of the search,” because of Cyr’s allegation that Phaneuf said that she had hid the marijuana in her underwear.
Phaneuf,
Because the district court dismissed Phaneufs Fourth Amendment claims, it did not reach the question of whether the individual defendants were entitled to qualified immunity.
Phaneuf,
DISCUSSION
We review a district court’s grant of summary judgment
de novo,
drawing all factual inferences in favor of the non-moving party.
De La Mota v. U.S. Dep’t of Educ.,
I.
The essential purpose of the Fourth Amendment is to impose a standard of “reasonableness” upon the exercise of discretion by government officials, in order to safeguard individual privacy against arbitrary governmental intrusions.
See Delaware v. Prouse,
the accommodation of the privacy interests of schoolchildren with the substantial need of teachers and administrators for freedom to maintain order in the schools does not require strict adherence to the requirement that searches be based on probable cause to believe that the subject of the search has violated or is violating the law. Rather, the *596 legality of a search of a student should depend simply on the reasonableness, under all the circumstances, of the search.
Id.
at 341,
T.L.O.
articulated a two-part test to determine the reasonableness of a student search. First, the search must be “ ‘justified at its inception.’ ”
T.L.O.,
Second, the student strip search must be “ ‘reasonably related in scope to the circumstances which justified the interference in the first place.’ ”
Id.
at 341,
II.
Although
T.L.O.
held that reasonable suspicion is the governing standard, the reasonableness of the suspicion is informed by the very intrusive nature of a strip search,
N.G. v. Connecticut,
*597
Prompted by concerns similar to those of our Court, the Seventh Circuit in
Cornfield
correctly observed that “as the intrusiveness of the search of a student intensifies, so too does the standard of Fourth Amendment reasonableness.”
Id.; see also Anker,
A.
The question, then, for us is whether the school officials had a reasonably high level of suspicion that Phaneuf had marijuana on her person to justify an intrusive, potentially degrading strip search. In addressing this question, we review the totality of the circumstances, looking first at those that might have created a reasonable suspicion that such a search was justified at its inception.
5
This review necessarily requires us to base our determination on only those facts known to the school officials
prior
to the search.
See Florida v. J.L.,
Here,' school officials point to four factors they contend created the reasonable suspicion' required to justify the search:' (1) the tip from a fellow student, (2) Phaneufs past disciplinary problems, (3) the suspicious manner of her denial, and (4) the discovery of cigarettes in her purse. We conclude that these four factors — considered singly and together— were insufficient.
1. The student tip
' “Informants’ tips ... may vary greatly in their value and reliability.”
Adams v. Williams,
Cyr’s tip was made face-to-face (to Bird-sall, at least),
6
by a known informant.
See United States v. Salazar,
Birdsall’s affidavit claimed that Cyr was a “trustworthy” student, and Cipriano’s affidavit claimed that Cyr was “a highly respected and responsible office aid[e].” As a general rule, we are wary of vague or conclusory statements about an informant’s reliability.
See United States v. Pena,
After receiving the tip, Cipriano apparently did not investigate, corroborate, or otherwise substantiate it prior to ordering the strip search. Cipriano's acceptance of one student’s accusatory statement to initiate a highly intrusive search of another student — with no meaningful inquiry or corroboration — concerns us.
See C.B. v. Driscoll,
2. Phaneuf s past disciplinary problems
A student’s past history of drug use can be a factor adding to the mix in a school official’s decision to conduct a strip search.
See, e.g., Cornfield,
3. The “manner” of Phaneuf s denial
Under certain circumstances, the manner in which a person acts when confronted by law enforcement officials can be grounds for raising a reasonable suspicion to conduct a limited search, such as in the case of a stop and frisk, or
“Terry
stop.”
See, e.g., United States v. Vargas,
4.The contraband in Phaneuf s purse
We finally turn to the search of Pha-neuf s purse and the discovery of the cigarettes and lighter. Contrary to the conclusion of the district court, we believe that the discovery of this particular contraband has such a tenuous connection to the alleged marijuana on her person so as to be of relatively little consequence in deciding whether the strip search for drugs was reasonable.
The facts surrounding the discovery of the cigarettes raise questions as to whether or not it was a justification for the initiation of the search, or merely later advanced as a justification after school offi *600 cials had decided to conduct the search. According to Phaneufs testimony, school officials apparently saw the cigarettes in her purse during the initial search immediately before boarding the bus for the school picnic — a search the parties do not dispute was specifically intended to discover “contraband.” Yet, according to Pha-neuf, the school officials apparently “didn’t say a word” about the cigarettes at that time. More importantly, the re-checking of Phaneufs bag only happened to occur prior to the strip search because Fraikin felt uncomfortable performing the search, and Cipriano looked in the bag while waiting for Phaneufs mother to arrive. These facts raise questions as to whether Cipri-ano had made up her mind to conduct the search before she re-checked the bag.
Furthermore, the district court concluded that the discovery of the cigarettes was the linchpin of this case: that the cigarette generated a “heightened level of suspicion justifying] the extended level of intrusion necessary to conduct a search of Kelly Phaneufs person.”
Phaneuf
* * * * * *
Contrary to the district court’s conclusion that the discovery of the cigarettes was the linchpin of this case,
Phaneuf
B.
Because we have concluded that the “justified at its inception” prong of the
T.L.O.
test was not met, we need not reach the question of whether the district court properly found that the search as conducted was “reasonable in scope.”
T.L.O.,
CONCLUSION
The judgment of the district court is Reversed, and this case is Remanded for *601 further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
Notes
. Though the district court found that it was undisputed that Cyr was the only student who reported Phaneufs statement to Birdsall, the record is unclear whether a group of students or Cyr alone informed Birdsall of Phaneufs statement.
. Though the district court believed this fact to be undisputed, the record on this point is a bit confused. Cyr's affidavit indicates that she personally went with Birdsall to Cipri-ano's office and reported this information to both Birdsall and Cipriano, but this is not corroborated by either Birdsall or Cipriano's affidavits, or Cipriano's deposition. In response to Defendant-Appellees' District of Connecticut Local Rule 56(a)(1) Statement of undisputed facts, Phaneuf specifically admitted that "Cyr had informed defendants Cindy Birdsall and Roas [szc] Marie Cipriano that Kelly Phaneuf indicated that she had marijuana and was going to put it down her pants to avoid the bag checks taking place in the auditorium.” (Emphasis added). This discrepancy is potentially important insofar as it pertains to the degree of Cipriano's personal, direct contact with the informant, Cyr, prior to the decision to conduct the strip search of Phaneuf.
. Though the parties disputed whether the search of Phaneufs bra was ordered by Frai-kin or was voluntary, the district court found that Phaneuf voluntarily lifted her shirt and pulled down her bra.
See Phaneuf
. In
M.M. v. Anker,
. In so doing, we occasionally draw upon the Supreme Court’s "stop and. frisk” or "Terry stop” jurisprudence, and we believe we are justified in doing so because ,the reasonableness under all the circumstances test from T.L.O. was in part derived from the Supreme Court’s decision in Terry v. Ohio, supra.
. As mentioned above, see supra note 2, the record is unclear as to whether Cyr reported her information to Birdsall who then relayed the information to Cipriano, or whether Cyr reported the information directly to both Birdsall and Cipriano.
