Strip-search in High School

One would hope that I add something to the world- be it good, bad, or indifferent- Me

I'm sure by now we've all seen the news about the supreme court finally hearing the case about the 13 year old girl who got strip-searched for drugs in a middle school in Arizona. She was brought to the Principal's office because someone else snitched that she had illegal drugs and was passing them out to people. Yes, the illegal drug was prescription Advil.

Let's look at this from the perspective of another students' mom. Here is a girl wandering around middle school potentially giving drugs to other minors. Yes, it's *just* Advil, but there are lots of drugs that interfere poorly with Advil. My own experience tells me that prescription strength Advil creates emotional imbalances in my system. As a random mom at this middle school I want to know the drugs my children are taking, and I don't want them passed out by anyone else. It starts with Advil, moves to Ritalin, and then where does it stop. So no, I don't think there was anything wrong in reacting strongly to the accusation that this girl was passing out prescription Advil.

Let's talk about the strip search part. What are the current laws related to strip searches? There are several differing philosophies. We've got the 'search is a search is a search' idea, then we've got the 'search beyond the reasonable limits' perspective.

In the first perspective we assume that because one has been granted permission to search a closet, a house, etc, one has also been granted permission to search a person. How are you searching a person without searching their current clothing.

Alternatively we have the perspective that a person's right to privacy outweighs the search, and that being exposed in this demeaning manner can constitute an invasion beyond that of the kitchen cabinets and underneath your bed.

In this specific case she was called to the Principals office, and the search was conducted in private by two females, one of whom was the school nurse. If we start at the basis that all schools have general guidelines which state that school lockers can be searched with permission, as can random searches of backpacks,etc. how much of a stretch is it that they decided to search her person.

Apparently the fact that she'd never been in any trouble before, and it was just Advil make people want to ignore the real issues of whether or not a principal can order a strip search, and then within this context if the strip-search that occurred was conducted properly.

I hate to say it, but with increases in violence everywhere, I'm a fan of voting with the principal.

On a totally ridiculous note, this girl says this experience traumatized her, which I don't doubt. However, I'm not sure how great of a model she is for the Arizona school system. Perhaps someone should have ensured she knew proper English before she left middle-school, Advil or no...

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