Strip-search case is lesson for school officials

Anyone who knows a 13-year-old girl or has been a 13-year-old girl herself would have known not to go there — to strip-search a middle school student at school to look for banned prescription pain pills.

But that didn't stop a school administrator in Arizona in 2003. After being told by a fellow student at Safford Middle School that Savana Redding was in possession of prescription strength ibuprofen, the vice principal pulled Savana from class. When questioned, Savana denied the allegation. A search of her backpack revealed nothing. The vice principal then directed his assistant and a school nurse — both female — to conduct a strip-search. Savana, an eighth-grade honor roll student, was ordered to strip to her underwear. She was then told to pull her bra out and to the sides. No pills. Then she was told to pull her underwear out at the crotch. Again, no pills, but in both instances she was temporarily exposed.

"The strip-search was the most humiliating experience I have ever had," Savana stated in a sworn affidavit following the incident. "I held my head down so that they could not see I was about to cry."

This past week, the Supreme Court upheld a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that the stripsearch was unconstitutional. While the school district could be liable, the Supreme Court held that damages could not be sought from the school officials individually.

Justice David Souter, writing for the majority, said the vice principal had "sufficient suspicion" to justify searching Savana's backpack and her outer clothing. But after those searches revealed no contraband, school officials went too far by continuing the search of her undergarments.

One would think that people who work with junior-high age students for a living would presumably know something about their fragile nature at age 13. Savana, now 19, said she "never wanted to go to school again."

Who could blame her?

Schools are in tough spot when it comes to zero-tolerance policies on drugs. Prescription drug abuse is a growing problem. A few Lortabs in the wrong hands can mean death.

As a parent of a couple of teenagers, I know that they're not horribly forthcoming about what they're up to, particularly if they know it will earn them a long grounding and suspension of driving and cell phone privileges.

So you do what you can to connect the dots. Had Savana's grades slipped? Was she hanging with people outside her normal group? Had her conduct or appearance changed?

I try hard not to second-guess authority figures who know more about a specific situation than I do. But making the decision to strip-search a 13-year-old girl goes far beyond the pale. You just don't go there, particularly after the initial search reveals nothing.