Okay, drop your pants.

Okay, the strip search debate.  After reading the article (here), I don't really have much of an opinion either way.  First of all, having to strip search a student at school is unfortunate.  No one wants to deal with drugs and the like at school, but that just seems to be a fact of life.  In this particular case, however, I have a lot of problems and questions.

1. Unless the article failed to mention it, the school district/state must not have had a protocol for strip-searching or law against it.  If, in fact, they didn't, then there is no reason to fault the administration for trying to take care of a drug problem.

2. The article assumes that Redding is telling the truth just because she was found without the drugs.  She claims her friend was lying.  She's probably lying, too.  It makes sense that she would have nothing on her if she did sell her friend the stuff.  She could just be milking this situation, though there's no way to know.  Just because she had never been to the office before doesn't mean she could never do drugs.

3. Redding's lawyers also seem to think that the word of another student is not enough for suspicion of drugs.  As a school administrator, that's usually the only information you have to work with.  I feel that the source of information being a student is irrelevent.  Whether a strip search is lawful or not does not depend on the how facts are accrued.

4. Where do you draw the line for safety?  Though the schools probably over-stepped their boundaries, I do applaud that action in some form was taken.  As a teacher in a failing school, I'm so tired of seeing administrators turn their heads at problems.  Getting rid of a huge issue like drugs in school will require action.

5. Was the student asked to strip in front of the nurse and a female secretary only?  If so, then I don't feel that it was too invasive.  Besides, the article makes no mention of Redding vocalizing her discomfort.  When asked to strip, she complied.  Though I was not there, and don't know any details, I doubt the search party ripped her clothes off or would have if she had expressed that she didn't want to cooperate.

disclaimer: I'm not a monster.  I just feel like we're all tired of reading the same things, and there are a lot of cases to be made for the admin.

How does this affect curriculum and instruction?
I suppose it could go either way.  You could lose the trust of students in some cases, meaning there would be a constant power struggle.  But isn't there already a constant power struggle, or is that only at my school?  In the most positive cases, the knowledge that drug use at school could lead to a strip search might hinder some students for using and selling at school, meaning there might be fewer high kids in your classes and fewer bathroom trips.  Who knows?  I think schools should be places in which students feel safe.  Does that mean you eliminate the danger of drugs by any means necessary or uphold the personel freedom of students by any means necessary.  There's not an easy answer.