Strip Searched At School

Should schools be able to strip search our children if they believe that drugs or weapons are involved? Savana Redding, in the eight grade at age 13, was strip searched by her school nurse. This came about because a classmate who was being punished for having prescription strength Ibuprofen said that Savana also had drugs. Savana was an honor roll student with no prior behavior problems and there was no physical or other evidence that proved she had any drugs on her. She was stripped nude and no drugs were found.
Her parents weren’t even notified that anything was going on. Her mother found out when the traumatized 13 year old got home from school, confused and humiliated. The Ninth Circuit Court found the school in violation of the Fourth Amendment ban on unreasonable searches. But now the Supreme Court is deciding whether to uphold that ruling and whether or not Savana’s civil rights were violated. This incident took place on October 8, 2003 and is now in its third round of court hearings. The Supreme Court will here more in April and come to a decision over the next few months. Savana Redding is being represented by the ACLU and they plan to prove to the Supreme Court that this child’s civil rights were violated.
I would be outraged if Savana were my child for several reasons. First, I don’t believe that the school had sufficient proof, only hearsay, that Savana had any drugs on her. Second, I think that a parent should have to be notified and present for a strip search of a minor child by the school. Third, the school district had no reason to believe that Savana had drugs based on her past experience; she wasn’t a troubled student or a problem child. I do believe that her rights were very violated and can understand why she suffered great trauma from this event that caused her to not go back to school for a month and eventually transfer schools.
This is completely outrageous. If we let school districts get away with this behavior where is the line drawn? This minor child should not have been put through this totally ridiculous, overzealous procedure by the school for any reason. Things should’ve been handled much differently and not gotten so out of hand. I do believe we need to protect the privacy and innocence of our children against overbearing school officials such as the ones involved in this case. This was a clear violation of Savana Redding’s personal and civil rights and we should all stand behind her. Hopefully someday she will be able to put all of the humiliation, embarrassment and shame that these school officials have placed on her because of this event behind her and move on with her life to be a happy, healthy teenager again.