Saturday, September 05, 2009

Atlantic High School Students Have to Undress for Search

The Des Moines Register reports five female students in Atlantic had to strip off their clothes, so that school officials could try to find the $100 another student claimed to have lost. The girls' families are now considering a lawsuit. The school district maintains the search should be legal. But a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision may disagree with that line of thinking.

What do you think about this? Should school districts be able to force students to disrobe if they are investigating a crime (the district used a female employee to do the search on the female students)? Or do you think this type of behavior should never be allowed, no matter the circumstances...invasion of privacy, etc.?

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

If it was done properly and the suspects had nothing to "hide", I don't see a problem.

Anonymous said...

Under other circumstances, this type of practice by adults perpetrated against minors would be considered exploitation bordering on child pornography. The only way such an event should have occurred would be with parental consent AND only if the kids were ok with it, which I'm sure they were not. Strip search should be limited only to adults currently incarcerated in correctional institutions, and there it is done only with good cause.

Dave Price said...

Thanks for the responses. Please put a name with your thoughts:)

desmoinesdem said...

I question whether it's ever justifiable to strip search a high school student, but this case was especially egregious, because there was no safety issue (like a student allegedly carrying knife or gun)--just $100 allegedly missing. The parents should sue.

The humiliation and invasion of privacy of a strip search could be very damaging for an adolescent.

tom said...

Just another erosion of our civil liberties..this would only be app-ropriate with parents present and consenting.. and if it was me I'd deal with it at home..I'd never teach my child to be a participant in such an obvious,flagrant, denial of their rights as a citizen and human being.

adamtw1010 said...

No one should have $100 cash with them at school. That's just dumb. If anyone if dumb enough to take $100 cash with them to school, then they deserve to lose it.

Jeffrey7500 said...

For the people that think it was ok, I wonder how they would have felt when they were 13 being ordered to strip in front of their teacher or principal. I would think that it would be very traumatic. I hope each of the school employees involved with this loses their job.

Anonymous said...

someone had a "power trip" and they should be fired. It was the assistant Principal. He is a jerk anyway.