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.

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

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.