Supreme Court hears strip-searching case
The Supreme Court hears arguments today in a case involving a 13-year-old girl in Arizona who was suspected of possessing drugs and forced to strip down to her underwear in the school nurse's office. I've heard of drug and weapons checks in Baltimore where kids get patted down by school police, but nothing this extreme. Here's an article from NPR's Nina Totenberg with the specifics of the case. The Supreme Court ruled in the 1980s that schools may search students' bags but did not address the issue of strip-searching. As Totenberg tells us, the question before the court is whether schools have free reign in determining when a strip search is warranted and where the Constitution draws the line.
Baltimoresun.com's 
Comments
I can not imagine the horror this fool of an administrator caused this little girl. To strip search a 13 year to search for what amounts to two Advil is awful. How these people can sleep at night is beyond me. What a horrible way to treat a child.
If this was my kid the rage for be immense. I hope this fool is on a street corner with a sign begging for food.
Posted by: Brian Kiing | April 21, 2009 3:37 PM
There seems to be a lack of common sense in this story. Perscription strength Ibuprofin? When we say drugs are a problem in schools we are talking about illicit drugs that are "recreational". Ibuprofin is neither. Why this case made it to the supreme court is beyond me. Aren't there better cases where you could argue a real need to search a kid? This one is embarrassing. How can such incompetent people be allowed to run schools? While there are such people in charge I'll vote for not giving them "free reign" in deciding to search kids.
Posted by: a parent | April 21, 2009 4:21 PM
I'm willing to bet that at the heart of this is a zero-tolerance policy in the district. It's stuff like this which takes from administrators the ability (or sometimes the courage) to think for themselves, or to make use of mitigating circumstances.
This is the sort of thing which gets kindergarteners who hug each other branded as being sexually harassive; which gets girls arrested for giving a Midol to a friend in need; which gets a student expelled because he took his brother's truck to school, the truck that happened to have a knife in the cargo bed, or the boy who is suspended for carrying around a kirpan, which would otherwise be permitted under freedom of religion rules.
In the end, ZT policies rarely win in court.
Posted by: Claude | April 21, 2009 11:48 PM
GOD help the miscreant who would force my child to strip their clothes off without a parent being present. If the supreme court votes in favor of the schools on this, they should all be replaced. Is there no common sense on the court? This is gross invasion of ones privacy, or don't we have any privacy rights?
Posted by: Lt Col James Moorhouse | April 22, 2009 4:22 AM