Students Strip Searched In Schools???

Just got this crap in the mail today... We're losing our rights very fast people... They're trying to take them from our kids in school now, and it's obvious why too. The less our children grow up with, the more they'll accept it, and the less they'll fight it. We have to act now while we still can.

--------------------------------- From DP Alliance -------------------------------

Imagine an America in which school officials could strip search every student in their school based on the unsubstantiated tip that one of them might have a joint. Congress is voting on a bill Tuesday or Wednesday that could make these police state tactics more common.

We can stop Congress in its tracks, though. Call your representative RIGHT NOW and tell them to vote against this dangerous bill.

If you don't know who your House representative is, simply call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and give them your address. They'll connect you directly with your representative's office. When you get a staffer on the phone, politely say something like:

"My name is [your name] and I live in [your city]. I'm calling to urge [the congressman/the congresswoman] to vote against the Student and Teacher Safety Act (HR 5295) when it comes to the floor this week. This bill would allow schools and police to invasively search large groups of innocent students based on the mere suspicion that just one of them has drugs. It strips Americans of their 4th Amendment rights. Please let me know how [the congressman/the congresswoman] votes.

MORE INFORMATION

The Student Teacher Safety Act of 2006 (HR 5295) is a sloppily written bill that would require any school receiving federal funding (essentially every public school) to adopt policies allowing teachers and school officials to conduct random, warrantless searches of every student, at any time, for essentially any reason they want. All they would have to do is say they suspect one of their students might be carrying drugs, and then they could conduct a wide scale search of every student in the building. These searches could be pat-downs, bag searches, or strip searches depending on how far school administrators wanted to go. Although courts would have the power to overturn policies that went too far, it could take years possibly decades to safeguard the rights of students in every school.

Disconnecting searches from individualized suspicion is what led to the Goose Creek scandal in 2003. That South Carolina city sent a machine-gun toting SWAT team into a high school because the principal suspected one of the students might be selling marijuana. 150 terrified students were handcuffed and forced to the floor at gunpoint as drug dogs tore through their book bags. No drugs or guns were ever found.

Searching students without individualized suspicion that they have done something wrong fosters mistrust between adolescents and the adults they should feel comfortable turning to when they do have substance abuse problems. Treating groups of students as if they're guilty until proven innocent sends them the wrong message about what it means to be American citizens, and makes them less likely to seek help and guidance when they need it.

The legislation is supported by senior House Republicans and the National Education Association (NEA). Its opposed by the Drug Policy Alliance, Students for Sensible Drug Policy, the ACLU, the American Association of School Administrators, and the National School Boards Association.

The bill wasnt voted on in committee and is being fast-tracked to the floor under a procedure that requires a 2/3 vote to pass. This means theres a chance we can defeat it on the House floor.

The offending text of the legislation (which is not officially public yet) is as follows:

(a) In General- Each local educational agency shall have in effect throughout the jurisdiction of the agency policies that ensure that a search described in subsection (b) is deemed reasonable and permissible.

(b) Searches Covered- A search referred to in subsection (a) is a search by a full-time teacher or school official, acting on any reasonable suspicion based on professional experience and judgment, of any minor student on the grounds of any public school, if the search is conducted to ensure that classrooms, school buildings, school property and students remain free from the threat of all weapons, dangerous materials, or illegal narcotics. The measures used to conduct any search must be reasonably related to the search's objectives, without being excessively intrusive in light of the student's age, sex, and the nature of the offense.

Sincerely,

Bill Piper
Director, Office of National Affairs

Learn More



Contact the Drug Policy Alliance:

Drug Policy Alliance
70 West 36th Street, 16th Floor
New York, NY 10018

For subscription problems please contact
Jeanette Irwin, Director, Internet Communications
jirwin@drugpolicy.org | 202.216.0035

 

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. I will send out an e-mail to my Senators today.

Just another reason I would home school kids if I had them.

 

Jeez that's terrible. I am against any govermental activity that infringes on our rights as US citizens. Big brother, it sounds like trouble.

 

Wow excellent research, one of the very few cut and paste jobs that actually made some sense

Trekker, man you gotta give up that bhong - that photo of you - you are beginning to look like a cartoon - too much weed

 

How long before "dangerous materials" comprises books about evolution, non-monotheistic religion, anarchism, or anything that gets right-wing panties in a bunch?

Since when does suspicion of marijuana possession by a minor necessitate a strip search by anyone, let alone a school official who is not part of the law enforcement system? This is already "excessively intrusive".

 

The public school system is NOT your friend. This stuff has been going on for a while. When my kids were still in school, there was a "drug threat", bag of weed found in the boys bathroom trash basket, and they LOCKED DOWN the entire school, refused to allow anyone to use phones, rounded up 15 "high risk" students, and took them one at a time into the (male)principals office for a pat down, including my then 14 year old daughter, without any woman present. Then in came the drug dogs, state police, locker searches, etc. My kids, luckily were able to escape before the doors were all locked, and ran thru the woods to a neighbors house to hide. They called home and told us what was going on, listed off some of the kids names who had been searched, and I proceeded to start calling parents. This is regular stuff these days. I had strong words with the principal (I told him off and hung up on him) and removed my kids from that school PERMANENTLY. I spoke with a lawyer who told me that what they did was illegal as far as the pat down, but that the cost involved in sueing the school made it totally un-worthwhile, and he said that is what they count on... Oh yea, and the principal LIED to me on top of it and said that there had NEVER been any drugs found in the school, and that the school had no apparent drug problem. OH COME ON!!! I had two teenagers in there. They knew what was going on better than anyone. Anyhow, screw the public school system! I watched things get more and more militaristic from the first day of MY kindergarten when I was 5. I've seen alot of water pass under that bridge since then, including getting my own 4 kids thru as best we could. Thank god I managed to get all my kids out of the system 4 years ago (home-school/no-school)! If I had school aged kids now, I would do ANYTHING to keep them out of there!!!

 

This reminds me of something at my high school. And as it turns out the school board in my county has already found a way to force students to be searched. It says that any student refusing to cooperate with police in any case will be subject to immediate expulsion from school. A friend of mine refused to allow police to search him or his backpack and the principle said he would be expelled if he didn't cooperate regardless of whether the police had a right to request the search. He finally agreed and was found to be clean... smell that? that's the sweet smell of freedom....

 

It's in the House of Representatives right now, so talking to your Senators won't do anything at the moment...

I agree, this has the potential to escalate rather quickly, unfortunately. And, unfortunately, it will happen if it's passed.

 

I e-mailed my congressmen as well.

If you don’t mind, keep us informed about the status of this bill.

 

Holy shit...
And people wonder why we complain about our country. *gears up to e-mail*

 

Strip searches? What's next?

From a teen's point of view, going to school is like being bussed to prison. School isn't even about learning anymore, it's a day care.

 

It was approved:

http://www.drugpolicy.org/news/092006search.cfm

 

I agree. In my high school, we weren't even allowed to leave the lunch room to get books out of our lockers.

Are you fucking serious??
My children are being homschooled... if I even stay in this country...
It's a sham. This experiment has failed. We should just go crawling back to England, now.

 

approved? fucking bullshit... well hey everyone who made an effort, thanks a bunch... i didn't get this email till the day i posted it, so there was little time to respond.. maybe we can find a way to get all these fraudulent judges thrown out and the judgments overturned someday... (the judges, by the way, in most cases never take the oaths of office as they are supposed to according to the laws of the state, therefore meaning they are not valid judges and their rulings should be overturned...)

there was a case where a militia actually got one removed for that reason, I don't have the link handy but I do have a copy of the article somewhere...

 

Exactly. Except England is starting to ape what the US is doing-I'm afraid before too long that it won't be much different than here. I have a few other countries in mind, though....

 

since children who are in school are minors it seems that before they searched a minor the parent would have to be present or consent to the search.

 

Just so you know it was approved by the house, but that does not mean it will even be considered by the Senate. Theres a reason we have a bicameral legislature and hopefully it's still working. That being said its astounding that this could actually pass the House. The article about its approval posted by Stradovarius mentioned it wouldnt be considered by the Senate in this session of congress. It also said the resolution was fast-tracked to help Rep. Geoff Davis (R-KY) in is re-election campaign. That shows staying in power is more important to these guys than maintaining the Constitutional rights of Americans.

 

Time to get your parents to speak out at school board hearings. Over the years parents have abrogated their authority, because they have both been working, and they've bought into the "if you allow this the world will be safer mentality". Time to wake up US.

 

Unfortunately, there's nothing new about that.

 

Being a senior in high school, I find this entire affair to be complete and utter bull. Most students here are minors, and should never be subjected to such procedures, especially without parental consent/presence/notification. Also, School administrators are NOT law enforcement! They have no legal rights to detain/search, especially in such an invasive way! The presence of drugs does not necessarily threaten anyone's safety during the school hours. Strip searching a student just out of SUSPICION is UNCONSTITUTIONAL! And for a small thing like a joint?!

This does not help my feelings towards the government in ANY way. A public school is run and funded by the government. Our 'representatives' do not have our best interests at heart. This shows the faults in our government. in accordance to what Wheels said, Politicians are too hungry for power and are now putting themselves before even the welfare of kids and students.

I only have one question, as to which I think everyone should give serious thought to: If this has become possible, if the government can loophole itself around its own rules (constitution)

What's next?