This analysis of a November 2001 case in Botetourt County, Virginia, looks at whether the Fourth Amendment right against an unreasonable "seizure" or the 14th Amendment "liberty" for parents to control the care and custody of their children requires a ban on, or at least immediate notification regarding, detentions of a certain length when public school officials are investigating a serious allegation of student misconduct. The court's recognition of the possible liability of school officials who did not act expeditiously enough to avert student violence and the resource-diverting effects of litigation to spell out the rules under the Constitution will resonate well with local practitioners, state policy makers, and special interests who have decried the over-legalization of education.