striiiiiiiippppp

            Strip searches such as these always first come across as a terrible injustice. Most of the time they remain that way, every now and then it seems you find a case where the administrator/police/counselor was doing the right thing. The real problem with the law is that it becomes a judgment call. Many view the law as open to interpretation by the party enforcing it, which is when problems arise. Obviously, principals are allowed to search a students bag or purse without a warrant, but because the court never addressed intimate searches it becomes a gray area. You would hope a principal would have the adequate training to keep him from allowing an act like this to occur, but when a law is open to interpretation their will always be people who go astray.

            One of the people who commented on the article stated that the people conducting the search must have had a mental illness. I do not think this is necessarily true. Many people not involved in education do not understand the pressure often put on the administration to enforce rules, keep the school safe, or get test results. This will many times lead administrators to feel they have no other choice but to be super strict/rigorous in order to meet standards.

            I am not really sure that searches directly affect the area of curriculum or instruction. 99% of problems like this arise from confiscating cell phones or other small items and are easily solved with searches (if a kid refuses to give something up give them ISS or suspend them). When it is a larger issue such as suspicion of a weapon or drugs I think administrators should have the authority to search a students bags/purse without consent. An administrator should never conduct a full body search of a student. If this is ever presumed to be necessary the police should be brought in to make the judgment call (and perform the search if necessary).