The Edjurist - Information on School and Educational Law

The Adjunt Law Prof Blog has the scoop this morning on a 9th Circuit case which upheld the use of a strip search in K-12 schools. In the case of Redding v. Stafford Unified School Dist. out of Arizona, two students were subjected to a strip search after the principal of the school had a tips regarding some students bringing illegal prescription drugs on campus. The 9th Circuit went through the New Jersey v. T.L.O. criteria in determining that the strip search was both justified at its inception and was justified in scope under the reasonable suspicion standard.

After reading the case, I have to disagree with the majority in this case. I echo the dissenting thoughts of Justice Thomas:

I must respectfully part company from my friends in the

majority. As we have said “[i]t does not require a constitutional

scholar to conclude that a nude search of a thirteenyear-

old child is an invasion of constitutional rights of some

magnitude. More than that: it is a violation of any known

principle of human dignity.” Calabretta v. Floyd, 189 F.3d

808, 819 (9th Cir. 1999).
Thirteen-year-old Savana Redding, an honor roll student

with no prior disciplinary problems, was required to strip,

exposing her breasts and pubic area, in a fruitless search for

— at worst — prescription strength ibuprofen. Savana had no

history of drug involvement of any type, nor was she alleged

to have any connection to illegal drug distribution. Rather,

school officials based their actions entirely on uncorroborated

statement by a student that Savana had given her a few ibuprofen

tablets. The school officials did not suspect that the

pills were something other than ibuprofen. The nurse recognized

the pill immediately as an ibuprofen tablet. At no point

did the school officials ask Savana’s mother to be present for

the search, nor did they permit Savana to call her mother or

any other relative during her two and a half hour detention.

School officials discovered nothing in the search. Given these

circumstances, I would hold that the unwarranted intrusion on

Savana’s privacy violated the Fourth Amendment.

How can a strip search of a 13 year old be considered reasonable in scope when searching for Ibuprofen? Sure, having and passing out prescription drugs is wrong and the search of the backpack was fine. But was it necessary to strip search her? How about searching her locker first or calling her parent ... or calling the cops? Any of these methods would have been more reasonable in scope and likely more productive in obtaining any illegal drugs and/or reprimanding the offending student. I personally feel this is clearly outside the bounds of the Constitution and even further outside the bounds of common sense. I continue to urge school administrators to refrain from strip searches of students of any age. If the search is that important that it is necessary to expose the most private parts of a student's body, it is important enough to get the police involved. The court may have found the school administrator's conduct legal in this case, but that does not mean it was ethical and that also does not mean it was the best available action in response to the incident.