The law gives school administrators across the country very few restrictions when it comes to what can be done to find dangerous substances a student may or may not be hiding.
The law gives school administrators across the country very few restrictions when it comes to what can be done to find dangerous substances a student may or may not be hiding.
And in a few districts, but not BPS, so has stripsearching.
Yet no one is sure whether using this method in school is legal or not.
“That’s exactly what the U.S. Supreme Court will be deciding,” said Rana Elmir, communications director of the Michigan American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
The US Supreme Court met on April 21 to discuss whether school administrators have the right to ask students to take their clothing off during a search. The particular incident they are discussing Savanna Redding, who as an eighth grader in 2003 was forced to take off her clothes when she was suspected of distributing prescription strength ibuprofen to her classmates.
Redding was reportedly asked to strip down to her undergarments in front of two female school employees. She was then asked to shake out her bra and pull aside her underwear to prove she was not concealing pills there. No pills were found in Redding’s possession.
“It blew my mind,” said Seaholm assistant principal Deb Boyer, describing her reaction to hearing news of this case. “It amazed me that any school in this country could possibly think that strip searches of students were legal.”
Redding and her family sued for damages after the incident. Now six years later, this case has travelled all the way to the Supreme Court, where justices will decide not only if Redding’s case was justified, but if any school administration nationwide has the right to strip search their students.
“This is probably one of the most important cases for students to watch right now,” said Elmir.
However, Boyer feels that Seaholm would never resort to such an extreme search method even if strip-searches were declared constitutional.
“I can not think of a reason why we would ever strip search,” said Boyer. “We have certainly never done a strip search in the past.”
Even when Seaholm administrators do feel the need to search a student for drugs, Boyer claims the search is far less invasive.
“We do not pat them down let alone [strip search],” said Boyer.
What school administrators do in case of a reasonable search consists of asking the student to turn their pockets inside out, show that nothing is tucked in the waste band of their pants, and turn around so we see there are no bulges in the back pockets.
“We may ask a student to pick up a pant leg to show there is nothing in the sock, take off the shoe, take off the hat and certainly ask them to remove a jacket so we can search the pockets of a jacket,” said Boyer.
One Seaholm student who has been searched by the administration agrees that the searches, although uncomfortable, are far from invasive.
“I mean, it’s not like it was fun, but at least I didn’t have to take my clothes off,” said the student, who wished to remain anonymous. “I know it could have been a lot worse.”
“I try to treat students the way I would want to be treated myself,” said Boyer. “It would just be such an invasion of privacy to do that.”
But other schools in the area may not be so lucky.
In fact, Elmir says that Michigan could be one of the many states impacted by the Supreme Court decision because of the many reoccurring incidents occurring in this state.
“It may come as a shock to students and parents, but each year [the ACLU] hears more and more students having to endure these types of degrading strip searches in [Michigan] schools,” said Elmir. “That’s why we are watching this case so closely because it broad implications for students through out Michigan.”
“It may come as a shock to students and parents, but each year [the ACLU] hears more and more students having to endure these types of degrading strip searches in [Michigan] schools,” said Elmir. “That’s why we are watching this case so closely because it broad implications for students through out Michigan.”
This past December, the student was strip searched by school administrators and the school’s police liaison. He was suspected of possession prescription drugs and he order to strip down to his underwear.
“We believe that the fourth amendment protects against unreasonable searches and certainly a strip search is unreasonable,” said Elmir.
“We believe that the fourth amendment protects against unreasonable searches and certainly a strip search is unreasonable,” said Elmir.
“It’s not unheard for them to try and conceal it and what better way to conceal it than in a place that [the administration] can’t search,” said Boyer. “I’ve had one male student with whom I knew [he was concealing] something in the crotch (2 years back) and we’ve had a female student many years back actually conceal something in her bra.”
But even at that point, Boyer did not strip search and feels that if a situation such as that were to present itself in the future, she wouldn’t even consider strip-searching.
“In my mind, when I have a suspicion or concern, I also have other resources I could call on to help me deal with that particular situation,” said Boyer. “I would not be in a situation where I would begin to strip search a student. I want us all to be safe, but I’m not going to go to the extreme.”
The Supreme Court is expected to reach a decision in June of this year. Although the media has seemed to portray the justices as more in favor of the schools, Elmir feels that there is really no way of knowing for sure at this point. In the meantime, the ACLU hopes the court will not decide against student rights.
“[The ACLU] strongly believe that the Supreme Court must not allow public schools to become places in which the constitution is meaningless to students,” said Elmir. “We do hope that students do not shed their constitutional rights.”
