Not in the future — the reason the majority said they shouldn’t be held liable was that the principle that this was illegal wasn’t clear until this ruling.
After this ruling, I think it should be clear what is illegal, and in the future they can be held liable.
Also, the individuals who actually carried out the search obviously had the support of their superiors, as evidenced by the fact that the school district pursued this in the courts, arguing that it had a legal right to do this. The school district employees who carried out the search were, to use a cliche, “just following orders”, and relying on their superiors in the school district to have determined the legality of school district policies and procedures. I’d have had a lot more respect for them if they’d had the good sense to “just say no” to doing something so blatantly idiotic and harmful, but they and their families shouldn’t be financially wiped out for it. The school district, on the other hand, SHOULD be financially wiped out — yes, the taxpayers will end up footing the bill, but perhaps this will help the taxpayers/voters to remember to be more careful in the future, about putting complete whackjobs in charge of their school district.
“the reason the majority said they shouldn’t be held liable was that the principle that this was illegal wasn’t clear until this ruling”
Oh, sure, let’s encourage people in power to go for a trial-and-error approach to violating civil rights.