RANCHO BERNARDO – Dozens of
Several girls attending the dance Friday said they were asked if they were wearing skimpy thong underwear, and told to go home and change if they were. Female and male students complained of having their clothing lifted and undergarments exposed by Asst. Principal Rita Wilson outside the gym, while their peers watched.
And those are just the first two paragraphs. You really have to read the Union-Trib account (blockquote is a link) in its entirety to appreciate the stupidity and poor judgment demonstrated by the incident. But ohhhhhhh, the issues it raises. *grinning in glee and cringing in disgust at the same time, if possible*
- Since when does appropriately dressed for a high school function involve underwear checks?
- Since when does anyone do strip searches (and I think asking people to remove clothes to show the presence or absence of undergarments counts as a strip search) in a public place?
- Why didn’t the police officer at the scene who reportedly witnessed this Assistant Principal examining underneath students’ clothing take actions to protect the students?
Anyone want to take bets on the job future of the Assistant Principal and/or the dollar value of the school district’s liability? As a starting point I found this ACLU press release on a 1998 settlement totaling $170,000 arising from a 1997 incident when about 50 boys were strip-searched by school officials when one claimed that $100 was missing from his wallet. From that press release comes a great quote, all the more important since today is Law Day: “In the name of zero tolerance, school officials seem to have lost all sense of perspective,” added [ACLU Virginia Executive Director] Willis. “They teach the importance of constitutional rights, then toss them aside as soon as they become in the least bit cumbersome.”
