Posted on 09/30/2007 6:09:41 PM PDT by FreedomCalls
Safford Middle School officials did not violate the civil rights of a 13-year-old Safford girl when they forced her to disrobe and expose her breasts and pubic area four years ago while looking for a drug, according to the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling.
The justices voted 2-1 in favor of the Safford School District on Sept. 21. The decision upheld a federal district court's summary judgement that Safford Middle School Vice Principal Kerry Wilson, school nurse Peggy Schwallier and administrative assistant Helen Romero did not violate the girl's Fourth Amendment rights on Oct. 8, 2003, when they subjected her to a strip search in an effort to find Ibuprofen, an anti-inflammatory drug sold over the counter and in prescription strengths.
The Safford School District has since (in 2005) adopted a policy that states, "Disrobing of a student is overly instrusive for purposes of most student searches and is improper without express concurrence from school district counsel."
The girl's mother filed a federal law suit against the district and Middle School officials because they forced her daughter to strip down to her underwear then move her bra and panties in such a way that her breasts and pubic area were exposed. The mother also asserts that she was not notified of the impending search.
In the opinion written by Judge Richard Clifton, "Based on the information available to them, defendants (Safford School District, Wilson, Schwallier and Romero) had 'reasonable grounds' for suspecting that the search of (the girl's) person would turn up evidence that (the girl) had violated or was violating either the law or the rules of the school."
Clifton wrote that Wilson and the others had reasonable grounds for believing the girl had Ibuprofen based on conversations with two other students.
The other students said the girl possessed Ibuprofen and had distributed the drug to others, according to the court report.
Judge Richard R. Clifton, however, disagreed with Thomas and Judge Michael Daly Hawkins, and wrote the dissenting opinion.
"I disagree, however, with the assertion that the search of (the girl's) person was reasonable in scope," Clifton wrote. "It was unreasonable to force (the girl), a 13-year-old girl, to expose her breasts and public area to schools officials."
Safford School District Superintendent Mark Tregaskes said school officials do not see the Appellate Court's ruling as giving them the OK to strip search students when possession of over-the-counter drugs are suspected.
"That's never been the case either before or after this decision," Tregaskes said, adding that the term can be misleading.
He also said parents are usually notified, depending on the circumstances.
A school district policy, adopted in 2005, states, "School officials have the right to search and seize property, including school property temporarily assigned to students, when there is reason to believe that some material or matter detrimental to health, safety and welfare of the student(s) exists. Disrobing of a student is overly instrusive for purposes of most student searches and is improper without express concurrence from school district counsel."
School district policies also state that students cannot possess or take over-the-counter drugs without the written consent of their parents. Over-the-counter drugs must be brought to the school in its original container and be administered by a school official, the policy states.
Under certain circumstances, however, students may administer medications to themselves if they provide written permission from their parents.
They strip searched a 13-year old girl for being suspected of possessing Motrin! If I were her parents there would be hell to pay.
Hey, it was motrin. Now, if only she had been stashing condoms, none of this would have happened.
i sense the natives getting restless.
Private schools, anyone? Home schooling?
The same school nurse would probably recommend and even drive the kid to a Planned Parenthood clinic if she got pregnant.
Vouchers maybe ???
Pathetic...
Is this satire?
For that, they would have given her a gold star.
Judge Richard Clifton:
Richard R. Clifton is a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He was nominated by President George W. Bush on September 4, 2001 and confirmed by the United States Senate 98-0 on July 30, 2002. He was Bush’s first appointment to the Ninth Circuit.
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Why would you think this is satire ???
School officials have no business strip searching anybody at any time. The police should be called in to conduct any search required.
That should eliminate the conduct of these intrusive searches in order to enforce school rules and limit them to situations where actual laws have been broken.
Ibuprofen? What is this world coming to?
Disband public schools altogether and start all over, this is total madness.
Two women in the room would have been sufficient for the stated purpose. If the principal participated he is a pervert, imo.
If someone dared to strip search my daughter in school at the age of 13 yrs old I would flip. At the very least they could have called the parents. I would rip my daughter out of that school right then & there. I would most likely have ended up in jail for smacking the sh!t of the the ones who did it too.
I cannot imagine school officials, of any flavor, strip searching my daughter.
It could not happen in my little town, without a fervent revolt immediately following.
Leda? Can the folks at the school strip our daughter, or would you object?
As long as the campus lesbian teacher was allowed to do the search...
Well your “little” town is just that,a “little” town and I happen to believe the story !!!
I'm shocked that the principal and the nurse wasn't arrested for sexual assault in this. 13!
Oh, I forgot. 13 is the consent age for an abortion, according to the NEA.
Or hard drugs. Her parents must be Republicans.
Anyway, the old guys and gals over at the 9th Circus know what they like, Fur Shur.
What the hell is this? Iran?
The school authorities ought to be horse-whipped!
oh i would absolutely object! no question about it.
i cannot even imagine it would happen here.
i think the staff were completely in the wrong strip
searching a 13 yr old child on the word of two other
students that she had ibuprophen. i cannot believe
they did not even contact her parents beforehand!
...and the federal judge found them not in the wrong???
But that's just me.
What a lousy, loony ruling! There’s no respect for a woman, and no respect for a young girl in it. Barbaric and rude.
Where are the Jena 6 crowd? You know, the people who ask for a 3-day suspension as sufficient punishment for a gang attack in a racial motivated assault in an ongoing conflict?
Consider: If the student refuses to submit to the search, is the school prepared to force them physically. Is the school really going to physically strip a child in the pursuit of OTC meds.
The HS my daughters went to had the same policy about searching students. When queried in a open forum about would happen if a student refused, they stated it would not matter that they would be searched anyway. When asked if that meant by force, they declined to answer.
Turns out a student at one point refused a body search, and the school disciplined them for disobedience, but not for possession. It was challenged but not overturned.
My instructions to my daughter was to never surrender her cell phone to anyone for any reason (it was on her IEP as well). If there was such an incident, to call me and if it got intense while I was in transit to lock herself in a bathroom stall.
Richard R. Clifton is a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He was nominated by President George W. Bush on September 4, 2001 and confirmed by the United States Senate 98-0 on July 30, 2002. He was Bush?s first appointment to the Ninth Circuit.
Before anybody gets the idea that Judge Clifton is responsible for the mess, let's quote the article...
Judge Richard R. Clifton, however, disagreed with Thomas and Judge Michael Daly Hawkins, and wrote the dissenting opinion."I disagree, however, with the assertion that the search of (the girl's) person was reasonable in scope," Clifton wrote. "It was unreasonable to force (the girl), a 13-year-old girl, to expose her breasts and public area to schools officials."
ping
Yes, it is a little town - an urban village, I guess. Anyway, everyone from the Mayor on down would be out, if they stripped my daughter, for any reason.
I would object, as would the rest of the town.
It would be loud.
“public area”????
What the heck is that?
Hank
“It was unreasonable to force (the girl), a 13-year-old girl, to expose her breasts and public area to schools officials.”
Public area! Public area? Is the judge trying to tell us something?
I wonder which profession has the most child molesters per capita?
Does anyone know if they ever found anything on the girl? They did this on the word of two other kids? If they didn’t find anything how about strip searching the other two squealers?
I asked around, and unless the little girl was running around, screaming “I got a bomb up my butt, and I will blow up the school bus!”, everyone involved would have gone to jail.
But that is VA. YMMV.
And that might be so, and it might even be proper for a search to be done but was it proper for those individuals to do the search, and was it a search or did they molest the child ~ take sexual pleasures by watching her naked discomfort perhaps?
I think a good criminal investigator could reduce these folks to jelly in 5 minutes by asking the most common of questions.
Sure be a good idea to run these people through a series of interviews anyway.
I hope I live long enough to see it.
Having said that, I doubt that it will occur, because we've all been conditioned not to allow it.
Especially "the children".
I'm speechless.
I'm more speechless that the Ninth Circuit Court would not consider this a violation of her rights. Don't they read the Constitution anymore?
I have taken over the Public School Ping list from mcvey. If you see any articles of interest, please let me know.
When the people can no longer trust the judiciary to enact justice there are only a few options remaining.
My son was once drug tested for falling asleep in class. We didn't know he had Mononucleosis at the time. They called home first & gave me a choice, I could take him to his doctor that day or they would test him. I took him to the doctor right away & we found out he was sick. I thought they handled it fairly well.
Maybe they should put the male principal on the sex offender registry for life. Ibuprofen what a bunch of idiots this whole school crew should be fired.
Ibuprofen is the greatest anti-inflamitory aid (short of steroid) ever invented (discovered?) in the history of the world. It is no more dangerous than green beans and has a host of very benificial properties. I’ve been taking it for decades (sure beats surgury or painkillers) for bulging disk and every other ache or pain inflammed muscles can cause and I know my son does and has taken them to school. What asprin was to my generation, motrin is to this generation. To do something like ths, ~shudder~ I’m truely amazed more otherwise law abiding people don’t go postal when this stuff happens to their kids.
You wouldn’t want to break the law would you? /s
Ibuprofen? “The drug”? Are these people intelligent enough to dress themselves?
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