Supreme Court to Hear Case of Teen's 'Embarrassing' School Strip Search

[Buxom Wench]

I can understand a school being concerned about drug use/abuse but, to strip search a 13 year child WITHOUT parental consent or they being present is just going over the line as far as I'm concerned. If you need to strip search my child, you better call me before even a bracelet comes off.

(highlighting mine)
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Supreme Court to Hear Case of Teen's 'Embarrassing' School Strip Search (http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/SCOTUS/Story?id=7380771&page=1)

High Court Showdown Over Student Privacy Rights, School Drug Policy
By JAN CRAWFORD GREENBURG
April 21, 2009—

When Savana Redding was summoned from her middle school classroom to the principal's office, she remembers walking down the hallway wondering why.

"I had never been in trouble," said Savana, then a 13-year-old honor student in the small town of Safford, Ariz. "I thought maybe something good was happening."

But when she walked in the office, she ran headlong into school officials' zealous efforts to protect students from drugs. Suspecting Savana, school officials subjected her to an invasive strip search -- without ever calling her mother.

That search now has set the stage for a significant Supreme Court showdown that could redefine student privacy rights and outline important guidelines for school officials as they seek out dangerous contraband, like drugs, weapons or alcohol.

Savana, now 18, says her case -- being subjected to a strip search for what amounted to two Advils -- shows guidelines are necessary.

"They asked me to take off my clothes, and I did while they stood there," Savana said. "When I was finally in my underwear, I thought, 'OK, they are gong to let me put my clothes back on.'"

"They just looked at me and said, 'well, now you have to pull out your bra and shake it and your underwear as well," she said, her eyes filling with tears. "I really wanted to cry."

School officials were worried about reports of students using drugs and alcohol. When an eighth grade girl was found with a cigarette and pills, she pointed the finger at Savana. In the principal's office, Savana denied she had any pills. A search of her backpack turned up nothing, so the vice principal said the school nurse would conduct a strip search.

"They saw everything," Savana said of the search, conducted by the school nurse and a secretary. "It was really embarrassing. These are people that I see every day."

Savana said there was one thought going through her mind during the search: "Where's my mom?"

"I just wanted to know where my mom was and why were they doing this to me," she recalled in a recent interview with ABC News.

School Strip Search: No Parental Notification
But officials never called Savana's mother. When April Redding got to school that afternoon, she was horrified to learn from a student that her daughter was strip-searched.

"I am shocked that they didn't call me. I didn't know nothing about it," she said, crying. "[Savana] was very upset, emotional. She tried telling me ... what they had done to her. She was crying and telling me that she never wanted to see them people, and that she couldn't go back there.

"And it just hurt me I couldn't protect her," Redding said.

School officials saw nothing wrong with the strip search, but Redding watched as Savana, embarrassed and humiliated, refused to return to school. She couldn't handle the students talking about her.

"It wasn't like, 'hey, welcome back. We missed you.' It was just whispering -- 'that girl, she got in trouble for pills.' Everybody thought that I was a troublemaker, and I didn't do anything wrong," Savana said. "So it hurt a lot."

Savana withdrew from her friends and eventually changed schools. She later dropped out of school entirely. Redding decided to sue, arguing the search violated Savana's constitutional right to be free of unreasonable searches and seizures. A California-based federal appeals court sided with Redding, and found the school liable.

The school district now has taken the case to the Supreme Court, which will hear arguments today.

Adam Wolf, Redding's attorney from the American Civil Liberties Union, said strip searches of children are "traumatic events" and that the case could set important new guidelines for schools.

"Never in your worst nightmare do you envision your child standing naked in front of her school officials," Wolf said. "If the court signs off on the strip search, we could very well see more strip searches in our schools. It is a proposition that should scare every parent out there."

Schools' Duty to Protect Students?
But school officials say they have a duty to find dangerous drugs.

"Most schools that engage in strip searches do it because they are acting in good faith," said Francisco Negron of the National School Boards Association. "They are doing it because they feel an intense need to protect the safety of the students.

But Savana and her mother say schools can go too far -- and put students at risk.

"They keep saying that they did it to keep everyone safe. What about me?" Savana said. "They didn't keep me safe by doing that."

Copyright © 2009 ABC News Internet Ventures

[MaidenFaeSnow]

The schools do it in order to keep the children safe. I would think though that strip-searching would be strictly a police action. There is absolutely NO reason for any school to ever perform a strip search. Call in the police if there is reasonable suspicion. Heck, it isn't like your boss could strip search you if they think you have drugs...no, they would have to call the police!

Sounds more like power-tripping than student safety to me.

[ladychristine]

I agree with maidenfaesnow. That is completely ridiculous. If a strip search is warranted than the police should be the ones doing it, not school officials. The police would involve the parents, no questions asked. AND in no way should other students have even been aware that a search like that had happened. It is a complete disrespect for that students privacy. Those school officials should be completely ashamed of themselves.

[daBaroness]

I would have thrown a hissy fit if someone at school did that to my child - especially a daughter. I'm so sick of knee-jerk reactions from schools. Administrators, lawyers and mamby-pamby parents have put us in this situation. Even the worst of children can't be punished for fear of litigation by parents. Too many school districts have very black-and-white policies that don't allow for any situation that falls into a grey area. It's all or nothing.

When my boys were in school, if someone picked a fight with them and beat the crap out of them - the victim would be punished equally with the perpetrator because the thought was administrators wouldn't be able to tell with 100% certainty who was whom in the altercation. So if the punishment was a week's in-school suspension - both parties served the punishment.

Kids are smart enough to manipulate the system to their best advantage and with these all-or-nothing policies, there's no leeway to consider individual circumstances. Same goes with drug policies - kids who take a freakin' Tylenol that hasn't been prescribed and given to the school nurse face suspension and worse. Meanwhile, resource officers are confiscating weed from students and taking it home for personal use. (Really, it happened at my son's high school.)

Few parents support teachers in reinforcing behavior and study habits. One of the main reasons my 17-year-old dropped out of school was that he was sick of 90-minute block class periods where only about 30 minutes was devoted to teaching and the other hour was trying to maintain order and discipline in the classroom. Too many schools are merely glorified day programs for juvenile delinquents whose parents don't give a damn because they were crappy students, too.

I feel so sad for kids today who live in regular working-class communities and attend schools where their classmates discourage their success. I've never seen a bigger group of ignorant losers coming out of high schools than we're seeing today. I applaud the kids who excel despite the mediocrity of their peers and the teachers who, against all odds, manage to reach, teach and even inspire kids to success.

Humiliating a straight-A student over nothing more than rumors by strip-searching them is certainly over-the-top, but sadly, because we somewhere lost control over kids and lowered our expectations - it's probably not surprising.

[Blue Pixie]

OMG, that was down right disgusting. There is NO way that any school officials should have done a strip search- that is only for the police to due. I would be downright angry if I was that girl's mother and I would give them hell.

[Torra]

While I think the whole thing is terrible, and the Supreme Court case will be good in limiting the power schools claim over the students, I have to say that after watching this young lady on Fox News this morning, I find it sadder that she has somehow not been able to move beyond the incident. Yes, it was humiliating. Yes, it was poorly supported and the officials had only hearsay. But this girl looked like it happened yesterday, not 6 years ago. I don't know if she was genuinely that upset, but something should have been done by her parents and her so that six years from the incident, discussing the actual series of events (not in extreme graphic detail) doesn't cause her to well up and shut down.

Hopefully after the ruling, she'll really be able to move on.

[Isabelle Warwicke]

she ran headlong into school officials' zealous efforts to protect students from drugs -- being subjected to a strip search for what amounted to two Advils -- But school officials say they have a duty to find dangerous drugs.

Since when is Advil dangerous? Are teenage girls of pubescent age not allowed to carry Tylenol, Advil or Pamprin anymore?

[daBaroness]

In a word, NO. Most school districts do not allow students to carry even Tylenol on their person.

[Isabelle Warwicke]

In a word, NO. Most school districts do not allow students to carry even Tylenol on their person.

So what happens on the days that you have wretchd cramps? You have to go to the nurse who won't give you any kind of medication at all? That sucks on a royal level.

Knee-jerk, indeed.

[Margaret]

So what happens on the days that you have wretchd cramps? You have to go to the nurse who won't give you any kind of medication at all? That sucks on a royal level.

Knee-jerk, indeed.


A parent or guardian has to come to the school to give the kiddo the asprin/tyelnol/advil.

HG's school does not allow the kids to carry tyelnol or any OTC either.

[Jamianne]

she ran headlong into school officials' zealous efforts to protect students from drugs -- being subjected to a strip search for what amounted to two Advils -- But school officials say they have a duty to find dangerous drugs.

Since when is Advil dangerous? Are teenage girls of pubescent age not allowed to carry Tylenol, Advil or Pamprin anymore?

Even back when I was in HS, I had to have a note from my doctor and the bottle of Advil was kept in the nurse's office. I had to ask a teacher to go to the nurse if I needed Advil for cramps.

[Margaret]

So what happens on the days that you have wretchd cramps? You have to go to the nurse who won't give you any kind of medication at all?




Also - most public schools don't have a school nurse anymore, so there's not even a place to store them there.

[MaidenFaeSnow]

Heck, girls can't even carry their birth control pills to school.

When I was in school, a doctors note was needed to be given any meds but the nurse kept the meds and called you down to her office at the prescribed dosage time.

When my daughter was in school, if she had to have meds, I had to go to the school every day, the nurse did not keep the meds there.

I haven't heard (yet) of any public schools in my state that do not have a nurse. I believe they have to have one (though that may have changed, I'd have to research it.)

[Gellis Indigo]

So what happens on the days that you have wretchd cramps? You have to go to the nurse who won't give you any kind of medication at all? That sucks on a royal level.

Knee-jerk, indeed.

This has been common practice since I was in school in the 80's. It's not a new thing.

What is more recent is the zero-tolerance policy that most, if not all schools have implemented, which requires them to suspend/expel a student if caught with any type of drug or medication on their person.

The meds in question in this case were prescription strength ibuprofen. So yes, it may have been equal to about two Advil, but it was still a prescription drug.

That being said, the school's actions were absolutely unacceptable, as well as their continued defense of said actions.

[Valar]

Yea I got issues with this. It wasn't right that she was search without her Mother not there. What happen to the girl who "ratted" her out? Was she searched too? I hope she wins her case.

[Phoenix McHeit]

I find it sadder that she has somehow not been able to move beyond the incident. Yes, it was humiliating. Yes, it was poorly supported and the officials had only hearsay. But this girl looked like it happened yesterday, not 6 years ago. I don't know if she was genuinely that upset, but something should have been done by her parents and her so that six years from the incident, discussing the actual series of events (not in extreme graphic detail) doesn't cause her to well up and shut down.


Wow, Torra. I hope you never have anything traumatic happen to you - and that, if you do, that no one would judge whether you had 'gotten over it' by their timeline. Or have the temerity to wonder whether you were 'really that upset' about it or not.

[SHpepperKat]

So what happens on the days that you have wretchd cramps? You have to go to the nurse who won't give you any kind of medication at all? That sucks on a royal level.

Knee-jerk, indeed.
We do not have school nurses here in WA. The only way that a student can have ANY medication on campus is if a parent brings it. The one thing that is allowed in an inhaler for asthma. That's it, and it took a student almost dying to get that. I don't think that kids should be strip searched at all, especially without a parent present.

[Mistress Morigianna]

I have a problem that who decides who get strip searched and who watches and why?

this seems like a pedifiles dream to be able to tell a kid to drop clothes to be searched...

[SilverMirth]

That poor girl. Hopefully, the Supreme Court will rule in their favor and set a precendent for children's rights at school. We as parents are entrusting the health, safety, and well being (both physical and mental) to the educators and administration of the school. This violated that trust. I would have gone completely off the wall if this had happened to one of my children.

As far as I have seen schools do not have school nurses. They have Health Aides. This is not even a renaming of the position. It is because they are not RN's or LPN's they have barely any medical training.

As regards to the medicine at school -- (and this only applies to the districts where my kids attended).
Hawaii -- The parents had two options. 1) they could come to the school everyday and administer the meds or 2) get a doctors note, a complete second supply of medicine that stated on the bottle label ans it had to be printed on there by the pharmacy "For school Use". This was true for all medicine including tylenol and motrin. Sunscreen could not be sent to school. The kids were not allowed to apply it to themselves nor were the teachers allowed to put it on the kids. The kids were not allowed to carry ANY medication on them including inhalers and epi-pens.

Maine -- Since the boys did not have to take medicine at school, I only left a single dose of each of their meds with the Health Aide along with a photo copy of the presctiption bottle. this was in case they had forgotten to take it before they left for school that morning. If they did forget, I would recieve a call confirming this and to make sure it was alright to give it to them. As part of the back to school paperwork, there was a form that I had to sign that asked what over the counter meds they could take (i.e. aspirin, tylenol, cough drops, cough syrup), How much they were to be given and how often. Then if the kid presented themself for anything other than a cough drop, I got a call from the health aide to verify amount and to recieve permission. they could carry inhalers on them sicne the biggest problem there wasn't medicine issues it was freaking bomb threats.

I am still learning the North Carolina rules. I believe they have to have a doctor's note and prescription bottle for any meds that are to be stored at school and I think they are allowed to carry inhalers.

[shyanwench]

Let's just hope that the Supreme Court has some common sense... Maybe we should strip search them before they make a decision to make sure they're not hauling OTC medications. If any one of my girls had been put into that situation, OMG, I'd hate to think the kind of media/public outcry there would be. I would have the entire school board, strip searched, and sued, if they had any meds on them... go figure!!!

Just having to "hope" the Supreme court would rule in their favor... these are the people who are out to take away women's right to choice. Why would they protect or defend? :yuck: I don't trust the lot of them.

Whoever brought up the idea of the school officials acting like pedifiles... I agree with that one! :blech:

[Mistress Morigianna]

i don't have kids but i am sure my mother would have been kicking some butt if some one tried that on me. I would have refused and they would have threatened and called her.

I remember I used to get into it with the school over crap all the time. I READ the book of rules when I got there and knew them. I think I am the reason the rule book changed every year....

Once they said they were going to spank me and I told them they were not allowed as my mother did not sign that form allowing it. They tried to keep me after school for something I didn't do so i would miss my bus (45 min + walk home) and had a fit when I just left. They can't restrain you.

[Bean]

Just remember that if the Supreme Court upholds her case, the school system could possibly be bankrupted by any settlement awarded the girl and her family.

And if the incident was that traumatic to the girl, her parents should have gotten her some kind of counselling. Yes, it's upsetting to talk about traumatic things that have happened to you, but she will need to work through the emotions in order to have a life ahead of her. It doesn't seem like any counselling has taken place.

[Isabelle Warwicke]

It's still pretty staggering that it takes that many years to get a case to the Supreme Court.

I wonder what the judgements that came out of the local, state and federal level courts have been. Is this the first time anyone is hearing this case?

I'm sad to hear that this wretched episode of the girl's life turned her from an honor student to a dropout.

[Lady Hefron]

Wow, this one left me almost speechless. I can tell you that if this happened to my child I would have been jailed for what I did to these idiots. Strip search a 13 year old child without parental notification...oh I don't think so.

I hope this young women gets the help she needs and is able to move on with her life. I also hope that the Supreme Court does the logical thing here.

Sorry, but don't you just want to smack these idiots and say "can you have a thought please"!

[Selena]

Let's try to remember what it was like to be 13. Thirteen, you guys. The age where you are most gawkey and trying to fit in with your peers. And to be strip searched by school officials... over a friggin' legal pain pill, is just absurd. I don't give a shit what their "school policy" knee-jerkoff reactions are. This was a legal item that was found. Advil. Please!

Welcome to the continuation of the pussification of America.

[RedFox]

If that happened to Pix or I ever when we were in school our mother would have had a field day ripping these people a new one. 1 - a parent should have been called, 2 - if a strip search was necessary then it should have been conducted by the police, 3 - DISCRETION! Other kids should not have learned of this traumatic event occurring.

I feel bad for this girl on so many levels that she had to go through such an event at such a young age. I'm a bit curious to know how many "school officials" (*cough*perverts*cough*) and what their names are because I would love to personally rip them a new one both physically and verbally.

[LitlePepito]

she ran headlong into school officials' zealous efforts to protect students from drugs -- being subjected to a strip search for what amounted to two Advils -- But school officials say they have a duty to find dangerous drugs.

Isabelle Warwicke
Since when is Advil dangerous? Are teenage girls of pubescent age not allowed to carry Tylenol, Advil or Pamprin anymore?


They haven’t been able to do that since schools have made zero tolerance rules especially when it comes to drugs. And common sense seams to have gone out the window with such rules. Now little Tommy and Susie are not only protected from things such as cocaine and heroin, but Tylenol is deemed equally offensive. As several of the ladies here have stated heaven help you if you need some pain killer for cramps or even a bad headache. Or even have a prescription for you on your person, like birth control pills (http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2009/04/08/school-expells-teen-for-birth-control-pill.aspx). I think the public schools need to come back down to earth and use a bit of common sense now and again.

From a legal stand point I think they’ve got to have read a different version of the 4th amendment than I have. Just reading some of the Justices statements in this case give me the hebie gebies.

“Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. suggested that the law might treat different undergarments differently. “The issue here covers the brassiere as well,” he said, “which doesn’t seem as outlandish as the underpants.”

Justice Breyer elaborated on what children put in their underwear. “In my experience when I was 8 or 10 or 12 years old, you know, we did take our clothes off once a day,” he said. “We changed for gym, O.K.? And in my experience, too, people did sometimes stick things in my underwear.”

So going by this logic its now ok for a teacher to strip search a student because another student says they have something as simple as Advil. Dame its heaven for a pedophile.

[SpeedKnight]

I'd be in prison, because I would brutally beat the living hell out of the principal. Then I'd beat the living hell out of the vice-principal. Then I'd beat the living hell out of anyone else I found out was in the room when this happened.
Even if the school did ask my permission, they'd get an ear full from me.
Whether it was a 13yo girl or a 13yo boy is moot... it was a child, in a scool. Strip searches should be saved for prison.

This whole thing almost makes me want to go off on how society today is fucking up our kids. The thing is, I've been trying to be calm lately. My rage issues usually result in diminished fuel efficiency in my car, thus impacting my wallet. At least one of my children is making it hard for me... I don't need something like this getting me riled up to.

[Jamianne]

Something that just occurred to me - could forcing the girl to strip be considered sexual harassment or even assault? Especially since it wasn't conducted by the police and without even parental notification.

If anyone tried that with one of my kids, I'd have been down at the police station filing every charge I could think of the second I finished kicking the asses of all involved. I understand the schools wanting to crack down on drugs, but what happened to common sense? (I know, not so common anymore).

[Gemdrite]

Heck, girls can't even carry their birth control pills to school.

When I was in school, a doctors note was needed to be given any meds but the nurse kept the meds and called you down to her office at the prescribed dosage time.

When my daughter was in school, if she had to have meds, I had to go to the school every day, the nurse did not keep the meds there.

I haven't heard (yet) of any public schools in my state that do not have a nurse. I believe they have to have one (though that may have changed, I'd have to research it.)
My second graders have to bring a note if they want to have cough drops, and they go on my desk and may only be taken if they ask for them. I am not allowed to use Neosporin on bandaids. And this is a parochial school, which usually has more leeway than public schools. It's absolutely ridiculous. I actually have every intention of sending home a waiver at the beginning of the school year telling parents to sign if they give me permission to administer "Neosporin or a generic brand of Neosporin" to their child.