Safford Middle School, Vice Principal Kerry Wilson and “Zero Tolerance”
It’s your world, folks. You choose how you want it to be run.
On the 8th of October, 2003, Vice Principal Kerry Wilson was visited by the school snitch, a guy named “Jordan.” Jordan walked into Kerry Wilson’s office and handed over a white pill, telling the Vice Principal that a girl named Marissa had given it to him and that a bunch of other kids were going to be taking these pills during lunch to get high.
Vice Principal Kerry Wilson jumped into action, first having the pill identified as a 400-mg Ibuprofen by the school nurse, and then going to Marissa’s classroom and telling her to gather her belongings and come with him…to the office!
Marissa was compliant, getting her things together and standing up to leave. As she did so, Kerry Wilson noticed that there was a black day planner lying on the desk next to Marissa’s. Marissa said that it didn’t belong to her, and that she had no idea who it belonged to. As he handed the planner over to a teacher, Kerry Wilson told that teacher to find out who it belonged to and left the classroom with Marissa in tow.
Interestingly, the teacher actually opened the day planner and found a few knives, a couple lighters, a cigarette and a permanent marker – all pretty much stuff that shouldn’t really be at school. Vice Principal Kerry Wilson was notified of the contents of the day planner and the items were confiscated.
Back at the office, Kerry Wilson and his administrative assistant, Helen Romero, had Marissa turn her pants’ pockets inside-out and open her wallet. A blue pill, (which happened to be a 200-mg Naproxyn), several white pills, and a razor were found on Marissa.
Vice Principal Kerry Wilson did his best detective impersonation and grilled Marissa about where she had gotten the controlled substances and where the black day planner had come from. We can only guess that he turned a spotlight on her while banging on his desk with a tightly-clenched fist as he leveled his steely-eyed gaze upon the 13-year-old criminal.
Marissa folded like a cheap card table and told the vice-principal that her friend Savana Redding had passed her a few pills earlier, but that she had no idea whose day planner that was – only that it wasn’t hers.
Kerry Wilson told Helen Romero to take Marissa to the nurse and have Marissa searched for any other pills or contraband while he went to retrieve Savana Redding from her classroom.
Marissa was taken into the nurse’s office where the school nurse and Helen Romero went through a rather lackadaisical strip search, having the 13-year-old lift her shirt and pull out her bra band, remove her shoes and socks and take off her pants and pull out the elastic of her underwear. No pills were found, and Marissa was allowed to get dressed.
Vice Principal Kerry Wilson retrieved Savana Redding and walked her to his office. Once at the office, the vice-principal turned back into Horatio Caine, telling Savana that it was important to tell him the truth and bringing out the black day planner and asking whose it was. Well, it was hers, Savana admitted, but she had lended it to Marissa a few days before so Marissa could hide some things in it from Marissa’s parents, and hadn’t seen it since.
At this point, Horatio Caine would do and say something witty, like pulling out his cell-phone, dialing the number for the police, displaying it to Savana Redding and saying:
I’ve got the truth here on speed-dial…..do you want to call them, or should I?
Unfortunately, nobody in any school administration is as cool as Horatio Caine, and Kerry Wilson just performed a fruitless search of Savana’s backpack and had Helen Romero and the school nurse perform a much more thorough strip-search on the girl.
The strip search was ordered despite the fact that the only evidence against Savana was the accusation from Marissa, who was already in deep water for actually possessing the pills along with an actual weapon – the razor blade. Marissa hadn’t even told Vice Principal Kerry Wilson that Savana actually had pills on her – just that Savana had given her those pills earlier.
This strip search involved Savana taking all her clothes off besides her underwear, then pulling her bra out and to the side, while shaking her breasts back and forth. After that jiggling produced nothing, Savana was instructed to pull her underwear out at the crotch and shake it.
Now, in the law enforcement community, strip searches are done only when there is a reasonable suspicion that there is contraband. Reasonable suspicion that warrants a strip search usually involves:
a) Being charged with a violent crime
b) Being charged with escape, burglary or the use of a weapon
c) Being charged with a drug crime
d) Having a prior record of the above offenses
e) Indicating through behavior that the subject may have something on him or her
Even if those conditions exist, officers are supposed to pat-search the subject first, doing the less-invasive search before moving on to the more-invasive search.
Strip searches, especially strip searches on juveniles, are only done by officers trained to do so, both for the protection of the subject and for the protection of the individual doing the searching. Blanket strip searches, or searches that are done on everyone in the vicinity or on everyone going through a situation (like coming back from court), are generally reserved for those who have been convicted of a crime.
Searches should not be done by school nurses, or school secretaries. An attempt to find the equivalent of two pills of over-the-counter ibuprofen does not warrant a search that was, according to Savana:
The most humiliating experience I have ever had.
Oh, I can believe that.
The only thing missing was Chris Hansen coming out from behind some plants and saying: “Nice to see you. Could you sit over there on the chair please?”
What I can’t believe is that middle-school students would willingly consume ibuprofen that was stored in another student’s vagina. Or that a student who was on the honor-roll and who had no previous run-ins with school officials had suddenly decided to smuggle a mild pain-reliever in the same manner as Columbian drug mules.
They’re your schools, folks. You pay for them. You pay for the administrators to strip-search teenage girls who are suspected of smuggling 400-mg pills of ibuprofen in their crotch.
Do you think you are getting what you pay for?
101 Comments »
Had it been my kid I probably would have been upset. However, lets not be too hard on under paid teachers, who were just trying to get to the bottom of the situation. Admin- there was plenty reasonable cause whne the snitch told on her and gave evidence.
Good lord.
Pretty heavy handed.
I’m somewhere in the middle on this one. On one hand, you’ve got teachers and administrators who are cleary over-stepping their boundaries but on the other hand, you’ve got 13 yr old kids self prescribing prescription medication. Worst case scenario, this little girl could have given the pill to someone who was allergic, and then she would have been worried about a lot more than a strip search… In all of this I want to know, where are the parents? I understand you can’t watch your kids 24 hours a day, but you have easy access to precription medications and don’t pay attention to the supply? thats a NO-NO…
Since when is Motrin and Advil “prescription medication”? It can be, as I have 800mg of ibprophen right here, but you can also buy it over the counter. Its not like this kid had methadone, Oxycontin, or vicodin on her. It was a “mild pain reliever.”
And as I think back to my middle school days, you still get your period at school and it still hurts like a bitch.
Once the nurse determined what the “contraband” actually was there was no need to treat these young girls as felons. No one should be stripped searched at school. The principal and other school staff overstepped their boundries acting as law enforcement.
These adults intentionally harassed and humilated these poor kids. Their actions deserve consequences.
You are right that you can get ibuprofen over the counter. But this was not an over the counter ibuprofen it was a prescription. Giving someone your prescription medication is illegal, as is possessing a prescription medication that is not yours! And if the prescription medication wasn’t hers then she stole the prescription and then distributed it to another person. That makes her a drug dealer where I come from, and PG County MD is well known for it’s drug dealers. Does anyone want drug dealers in their kids school?
These kids are just raiding the medicine cabinet and taking whatever is there. The razor is used for cutting the pills to share or to make it easier to take. I bet if a bunch of kids died from doing this then you wouldn’t have the same careless attitude. Oh wait kids are dying all over the country from this. Ibuprofen is harmless, right? WRONG Just three of those 800mg pills can be toxic. Anymore then 3200mg in a 24 hr time frame and you have pretty much destroyed you digestive tract. So when these kids take it and don’t get “high” what do you think that they will do? Take more! And when Mommy or Daddy takes the little ibuprofens it’s usually 3 or 4 so taking 3 or 4 of the big ones can’t be that bad! WRONG.
But the media isn’t focusing on the real issue. Instead people just want to condemn the school for trying to protect the students. The students that are dealing these drugs in school need to be punished. And if you don’t think so then watch the tv show The Wire and see where these child drug dealers are doing.
Mommy or Daddy or a Doctor can send a note in with the medicine for the students to take to the nurse if they have a legitimate need for the medicine.
Did the school do the right thing by stripping this girl? Not off the word of one student. Should the other student have been searched in the same way? Yes more so then the student they did search.
this is my sister you guys are talking about i agree that this school is doing there job but i care about my sister what i thin is that police should of been called and my mom.marrisa was my sisters freind since second grade and now they dont see each other im 16 and if i was to get asked to take my cloths off i would say (no i want to call my mom first). now think about this my sister is really smart and she wouldnt do drugs and she isnt a drug dealer if you knew her like i do you would think the same.
So if someone asked you to get your clothes off (say like a hot woman) you’d want to call your mummy first. Dude that’s just sick.
There is no reasonable cause for school officials to strip search any student. If they really think there’s anything to find, then they need to call the police and the parents. Anyone strip searches my juvenile dependent without my prior knowledge is in for a lawsuit.
I agree completely with you Rich. There was absolutely nothing here that warranted a strip search of those girls. If someone did that to my daughter, there would be hell to pay.
The school officials should have never taken it that far. Marissa should have never brought pills and/or weapons of any sort to school. To me, Savana is innocent. Although Marissa deserves punishment, being expelled for instance, she should have never had to take her clothes off in front of anyone. Same for Savana, but I dont think Savana should be punished until they find some evidence. The 3 school officials that participated in the strip search should all be fired.
If they found some sort of weapon they should have called real police immediately who are trained to deal with the situation.
Strip searching a child in the middle of a school day is too far. It’s not like they were looking for the key to disarm a time bomb.
-Brad
After a second thought, a quick call to the parents to be there during the search or have them search their child would probably been the best route. But, I still dont think we should come down too hard on the school, they have a hard job, and maybe this incodent will cause some change in not only that school, but others as well regarding search procedures for students.In the end, not alot af harm done. I remember a couple of girls on my vollyball team being searched because they were said to have hickies on their chest area. I didnt think it was a great injustice at the time, but it made me think that I definetly would not make that mistake.(the coach only knew about the hickies because another student saw them changing after practice and snitched)
Since when is a hickey contraband?!
omg Im lol here, not because its funny but the story telling has me in tears… storing advil in vagina .. columbian drug lords …. im sure that school has a drug problem but cant believe they’d bedumb enough to think were allowed to strip search 13 yr old girls!! even if they had real drugs, call the cops for that sheesh.
Only the good teachers are “underpaid”. Dollar per hour, most teachers make more per hour than most people. Average teachers who don’t take their student to lunch nor do any extra activities do not get the extra “stipend” (may be misspelled) dollars, so – boo hoo (like my 6th grade teacher).
Anyway, I think the teacher did the right thing, kick it up to the admin. The vp overstepped his boundaries and deserves a kick in the nads.
When I was in high school my wosdon teeth were giving me aweful headaches, but I had to wait to hvae them removed. I had a bottle of Bufferin with me and I chewed thru a few bottle like they were candy. I don’t remember being questioned, probably because thise who did question me used common sense and thusly did not make a big deal of it.
At work I keep a bottle of Ibuprofen on my desk, I hope I don’t get arrested!
I would beg to differ. My boyfriend’s father is a teacher and my boyfriend is an ex-teacher so I know a little about it. Teachers may only be actively teaching classes six hours a day, but they don’t get paid for the many hours they spend correcting homework, attending meetings, etc.
I have quite a few teachers in my family, and the pay isn’t why they’re in the job. And the people who did this obviously had enough free time to do the police’s job, so if you ask me they’re underworked.
They didn’t go far enough. I bet some waterboarding would have helped those girls tell the truth. Not to mention a cavity search should have been done, as jumping around is not enough to dislodge contraband OTC medication from a 13 year old girl’s vagina or rectum. School administrators have a job to do and that is keeping our children safe from gateway drugs like Advil and Tylenol. We shouldn’t look down on them for just trying to do what they can. If we can save one kid from headache relief or possibly stomach irritation, then I say strip them all down and do it right away. Sure some kids might just say another kid has drugs so he gets humiliated, but stopping to think about what you are doing is how people die. School administrators need iron-fisted, zero-tolerance/thought policies like this. It is also ludicrous to suggest they wait for police or parents, especially when we have highly-trained office secretaries who are more than capable of performing invasive searches on children. I say the principal, nurse and secretary deserve a raise if anything and certainly should not be fired or arrested. They were just doing their job and we all know that frees you from any consequences no matter how despicable your actions were.
And personally, I wake up and count every pill in every bottle in my house to make sure my kids aren’t getting twisted on Motrin and Allegra. I also pat them down every time I see them and watch them submit weekly urine samples for drug testing. Where are these deadbeat parents? Times have changed and your kids are basically criminals living in a world of filth and depravity. You just can’t afford to give them any leeway.
concerned parent, i love you. you are my hero.
No offense concerned parent. But I bet your kids fucking hate you. I know I do. You suck. You are raising your kids to hide everything from you and get you the fuck out of their sight as you as then legally can. And if you ever came preaching your vagina and anal search around our school district you would be laughed away.
P.S. Get a shrink. Before your kids half to.
And you obviously can’t recognize sarcasm when you read it.
hell I didn’t even see that as sarcasm.. I read it and I thought ‘bitch’
you know what i am her brother and you are fukin wrong about what you say my sister loves her mom and she would never think that way about her and if i ever saw you in person i would probaly kick you ass for talking about somone when you dont even know any thing about her. you know what i think you should go kill your self or maybe you are a drug dealer and maybe you dont want anybody to know
this is for all of you who think my sister is what she aint ALL OF YOU JUST FUCK OFF BECAUSE YOU DONT KNOW WHO YOU ARE DEALING WITH!!!!!!!!!
You’ve got the wrong end of the stick there jeffrey, I’m pretty sure whiteiris was refering to Concerned Parent’s post and not your sister. Secondly, whiteiris’ only crime is being unable to destinguish sarcasm, last time I checked this was not an ass kickable offence.
Thirdly, you seem to have alot of anger issues. I haven’t seen anything bad said about your sister yet you go around yelling “ALL OF YOU JUST FUCK OFF BECAUSE YOU DONT KNOW WHO YOU ARE DEALING WITH!!!!!!!!!”. So tell me big fella, just who the fuck am I dealing with?
you are right about one thing but you know what my mom or some other realitive should of been called first and you know how crazy you sound you sound like you would just let any body do what ever to your kids! and any ways this is non of anybodys bisiness AND MY SISTER SHOULDNT OF BEEN STRIPED SEARCHED FOR NO REASON AT ALL AND WHO EVER YOU ARE BITCH NO ONE WANTS TO HEAR FROM YOU.
I agree, your mother should have been called first! I would have been one pissed off little mama.
I love it! Children these days really do need to be captivated in every aspect.
This guy is a borderline facist. I tell you what, my daughters would have refused to comply if they were in Savanah’s place because that’s how I raised them, and I would have had their backs all the way. Strip searches are the realm of the police, and they make sure they have PC before they go through with it & are trained to do it correctly.
Max
YOUR RIGHT AND I AGREE WITH YOU ALL THE WAY AND IM THIS GIRLS BROTHER AND I CARE ALOT ABOUT THEM
There are steps one must take when dealing with bad behavior from anyone. A child should not get worse treatment then a rapist or murderer would. I don’t care what she did, they were wrong.
The zero tolerance policy is idiotic to begin with. It leaves no room for leeway or exceptions – even common sense ones.
Case in point – friend of mine had a teenage daughter with very bad asthma. When she was at school, she was required to keep her asthma inhaler AT the nurse’s office. Even at the end of the day when she is waiting for the bus on the OTHER side of the school, she wasn’t allowed to have it. They told her to have a friend run and get the nurse and she would bring the inhaler. Can you even imagine letting your child suffer for the at least 15-20 min round trip it would take? Just absurd. My friend rightfully gave her daughter an extra inhaler and just didn’t tell the school.
It would be nice, if people used a bit more common sense.
This was a delicate matter best left to trained officials. In my city, at least one police officer is assigned duty as part of the school staff. The school’s administration should be careful to follow all procedures and policies regarding these matters. In this day and age, we have terrible things happening at our schools. I am sure the government is re-writing the script on emergency procedures. All staff should be required to take a refresher course.
This is not difficult to figure out.
First of all, thank you “Jordan” for speaking up. Great job!
Second, thank you to the Vice-Principal, the school Nurse and her appointed assistant.
The only people who are going to have issues with this are the parents of these girls who might cash in on a situation that they allowed to happen in the first place by their lack of supervision of their own children.
The people who should be most concerned with this situation are the other parents of said “bunch” of kids who were going to ingest prescribed adult medications at lunch to get “high”.
I think we are also overlooking the fact that this day-planner contained a few knives, a few lighters, a cigarette and marker pen. A suicide kit perhaps?
With Marissa being found with added pills and a razor blade, this is not far-fetched at all.
I think this Marissa was trying to impress “Jordan” and possibly get rid of some competition. He did the right thing because, something just didn’t feel right to him.
The girls should have gone to the Police Department and been questioned by professionals and the parents as well, to find out where the medications came from. PD should also look into these girls Myspace pages and interactions on the internet.
Not only this, just thank the skies that these girls parent’s weren’t taking xanax, lithium, oxycontin, vicodin, methadone…etc.
It’s bad enough you don’t know your kid’s friends well enough but, to expect to know their parents and their habits behind closed doors is asking for a miracle.
Hell, you don’t even know your own kids that well.
Now, as far as you all going too far.
It was not a fucking cavity search. They were asked to shake their bras and panties(while still on their bodies) by a female Nurse and appointed female assistant.
Because, why? They found drugs, weapons, cigarettes, lighters and a student who came forward and said Marissa gave him drugs and said a “bunch” of other students were going to take drugs at lunch.
I don’t see a problem here with school administration.
The only way I would have a problem with this story is if the Police Department did not get involved immediately and get to the bottom of this dangerous adolescent problem in schools these days.
After hearing about eight and nine year olds coming to their elementary school with a murder kit and assigning everyone a job from mopping up the blood to keeping watch, while knocking her out with a paperweight, duct-taping, hand-cuffing and stabbing to death their 60 year old teacher.
(which didn’t come to fruition because a child spoke up).
The parents should be appalled at their kid’s behavior and praise the Vice-Principal for his reaction and thank him for not letting it go further and protecting the rest of the student population and seek help for their children before they are exposed to further embarrassment and scrutiny by the other parent’s of all the other children who attend this school.
It’s a shame that parents rely on the shool system to teach their children the most important lessons in life, when it is their own responsibilty to engross them in self-respect, respect for others, morals and responsibilty for their actions.
To protect and defend these girls and tell them they did nothing wrong and that they were mistreated would be a travesty and an obvious indication that the pill popping parents weren’t taught right either and need to grow the fuck up.
The state of our nation depends on our children who are in crisis and kids like “Jordan” and good employees of our school systems who are in danger of being accused of or sued for protecting the majority, while seeding out the bad seeds, before it is too late.
Before you have to see your kid on a slab from a knife wound, bullet or from ingesting prescription medication from her friend’s parents cabinets.
There is no “Hell” for anybody in this story unless these parents choose to go after the school system or placate these girls as doing nothing wrong.
You would be as good as Lori Drew and should never be a parent in the first place. Your brain doesn’t grow with your belly……………………………………………….if only we were that evolved!
wow, you are absolutely, ridiculously idiotic
There’s a hell for me, and it’s trying to read your retarded comment.
Yo Reality Check. Chiggity check this… Do you live in a fucking dream world, nobody is going to take the time to look up these chicks “myspace” pages. This was not even that big of a deal. Teenagers do shit like this all day everyday. The school shouldn’t have assulted these young ladies. Think about what you fuck heads are saying. 13 year old girls should not be naked in front of anybody. Especially adults. Again in the real world (not high school) where people actually get arrested for having a weapons they are strip searched before they are put in a holding cell in a correctional facilty. Not in the school nurses office. ??This was a matter for the counsilor. If the school thought the girls actions were that intollerable, police action, or expultion. Get real people. Look inside the vagina and anus? Shake your boobs, pull out your panies? This is a violation of human rights. These girls were not arrested. They should be charged and forced to resign. Seriously.. Duh. (I also do not feel that the few of you are not even worthy of my opinion. I honestly just wanted to let you know how bizzare you perspective actually is.) Are you from Alabama?? Kidding, kidding. Just saying…:o)
They weren’t strip searched! They had the girl take off her pants and then she was told to lift her shirt up to see if anything was in her bra. If you’ve ever been strip searched then you’d know what happened to her wasn’t that bad. Human rights? Seriously where the fuck do you live? You live in some altered state if you think that it’s ok for these kids to raid there parents medicine cabinets to get high. Do you have any fucking clue what happens when you mix the wrong medication? But fuck it survival of the fittest B and if they die then they were weak.
The fact that you would actually have no problem with the school doing this to YOUR kid means that you should NEVER be allowed to have kids. It’s not for the school to decide whether they have reasonable doubt to strip search someone. I understand that kids these days CAN be dangerous, and that’s why we call the police when it’s necessary and leave the decision-making to them. We DON’T do things like this school did to these girls. God forbid this ever happened to my child, I would OWN that school.
you know what bitch shut the fuck up before your mouth gets you fucked up
Excuse me, but what is wrong with her comment? You need to take the time to read things before you post.
Woah, was that a threat? Is that illegal even though it’s words online? I hope you don’t talk to people like that in the real world. Actually, maybe you should talk to people like that in the real world. Go, go out into the world and threaten your heart away.
….BAHAHAHAH! Oh, mercy!
Lol… I talk to people like that all the time… but because I’m so “cute and cuddly”, they just laugh :) Apparantly being 5′ 2″ does not lend itself to being threatening, haha
These girls did the wrong thing. They got busted. They should have gotten a detention or a suspension from school for a few days. Maybe be made to do some research on the long term effects of drug use.
They should not have been searched beyond emptying their pockets, school bags…maybe even their lockers.
We teach our children from day one that there is good touching and bad touching. That they have their own personal space and that if someone touches them inappropriately then that is abuse.
If anyone else asked a 13 year old girl to undress and shake her boobies and pull down the crouch of her knickers, they would be branded as a phedophile. A first class sicko….but it was ok for the school nurse to do it?
Anyone, school nurse or not, did that to my child, she would be needing a nurse of her own from the broken nose i would give her.
The principal was WAY out of line.
you know what mother fucker my sister didnt get busted for shit and its non of your concern asshole.
Jeffrey, jeffrey, jeffrey. You poor dillusional little weak fucktard.
MY GOD KID WILL YOU LEARN TO READ????
I’d HATE to see your SAT scores… good luck in college….
Did you and I read the same story? Cause in my version of the story savannah was INNOCENT you dumb animal.
Are you saying that school attendants should have the right to break the law? cause if you knew the law, you would know that this kind of a search would be considered illegal.
Zero tolerance is a huge problem, the result of well meaning people going so far overboard that the policy means nothing except that your child can get in huge trouble for being a kid.
People like “RealityCheck” obviously are not grounded in reality.
Kids say things all the time-they misinterpret things-they repeat things-they assume things. “Jordan” said the kids were going to get high. Who told “Jordan” everybody was going to get high? Another kid? Or did he assume kids were going to get high because of an attitude he learned at home that all drugs are bad?
I applaud him for going to a trusted adult with a concern, but was he questioned? Or was an attitude reinforced that all drugs are bad. Were the girls questioned appropriately? One the drug was identified as ibuprofen why wasn’t this used as an opportunity to educate kids – the whole class? Once they were identified, I think it would be reasonable to assume that the girls weren’t carrying anything more dangerous, and certainly doesn’t warrant a strip search – certainly without parental consent. Were they educated or just labeled as trouble and punished?
People like “RealityCheck” seem to read a lot more into a situation than called for. Define knife. Was this a little penknife? A letter opener? A kitchen knife? A switchblade? A hunting knife? A bayonet? Knives have no place in a school – but doesn’t the type and intent get called into play?
A cigarette and a couple of lighters? Kids are curious. They want to act grown-up. Another missed opportunity for the administration to educate? Sounds like it.
To call that a suicide kit is a bit far fetched, but okay, cigarettes are bad for you.
Razor blades are dangerous too. Kids love ‘em. They cut paper and all sorts of stuff that is hard to cut. Single edge? Double edge? Neither is a practical weapon to Marrissa to “off” the competition for Jordan. Girls can be catty but c’mon, let’s be a bit realistic here.
I’ve got the feeling that RealityCheck is basing the use of MySpace on pages viewed from links on sites like this. A normal 13 year old girls MySpace page is quite boring. I’ve been through 2 teenage girls – I’ve monitored their pages – this I know.
I’m not defending or condoning what the girls did – I am condemning the school administration, they actions were irresponsible. Not at all in touch with the children they are supposed to teach and to close- minded to use real life situations to teach.
Most kids are not in crisis. I really doubt that I’m ever going to see one of my kids on a slab from a knife wound, bullet, or drug overdose. My kids do a lot of stupid stuff, have done a lot of stupid stuff, and I expect they will continue to do a lot of stupid stuff. One has tried pot, one was suspended for a zero tolerance rule (after school fight) – both graduated with honors. I still have 2 to go. All we can do is use every chance we get to learn and grow. We need to work with the schools and they need to work with us. If punishment is warranted, then we punish. But we don’t need to create strife, we don’t need to condemn, we don’t need to treat kids like criminals because they don’t think things out. If a kid shows a pattern, then we can escalate the intervention. I’ve got one headed down that path, but accusations and high-handed, knee-jerk reactions only hinder. The kids learn to distrust, to hide things. I’m certain that Jordan is only getting praise from adults and being ostracized by his peers.
Sadly, people like RealityCheck live in fear, can’t control their children, or, in all probability, don’t have any children. RealityCheck seems to be they type that lives by reading the headlines and playing on the computer. Get out among some people. They’re not all bad.
More PC stupidity if you ask me.
It’s your world, folks. You choose how you want it to be run.
They’re your schools, folks. You pay for them. You pay for the administrators to strip-search teenage girls who are suspected of smuggling 400-mg pills of ibuprofen in their crotch.
Do you think you are getting what you pay for?
The above are false statements. People with power or a false sense of it abuse it, and we have a very poor system to keep it in check. What are we going to do? Stop paying for the schools?
Every year in America our cute believe that we have ‘rights’ is challenged a little bit more. Do you know that the court systems test antidepressants like wellbutrin (which is labelled for adults only) on children? (In Kansas this is very common). We have privilidges, not rights. We are losing our priviliges, a little more, every year… and we’re too busy playing on our iPhones and watching Paris on tv to notice.
And this world is only gonna get crazier…
Some obvious things people are overlooking-
I was prescribed Naproxyn over 20 years ago for ovarian cysts. It did nothing. NADA. It is not a pain med, it’s a NSAID. At the same time, I had an RX for Motrin. We all know how dangerous Motrin is. I thought Naproxyn had gone OTC- if there is any form that isn’t, it’s not because it’s a dangerous controlled substance, it’s because it allows people that it works for to submit it to their insurance for reimbursement. I feel sorry for anyone taking the rx or otc type, because it does NOTHING. Worthless.
Being strip searched after the equivelent of Advil is found on a student is pathetic. They didn’t say searched because an unknown pill was found. They knew what the pill was, and knew it was as dangerous as a manicure- unless you’re my ex-husband and you take handfuls of them at a time to get rid of your hangover because you’re an alcoholic. In cases like that the danger is that you will end up in the hospital minus one kidney.
Naproxyn, Advil, Motrin, Tylenol, Ibuprofen… all of these things are appropriate pills for teenaged girls with cramps to have. Boys, not so much, unless they got hurt playing basketball. They are placebos. They rarely help anyone, and their only danger is in liver or kidney failure when combined with longterm alcohol abuse. I worked in a pharmacy for over 6 years. Searching because of those pills is a quick way to get Gloria as your atty.
Razors? Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to say— check the girl’s wrists and arms, hips, stomach and legs. Girls that age do not usually have razors as weapons. They have them because EMO and cutting are all the rage now. Whichever girl’s cuts were freshest probably owned the razor. Instead of strip-searching, the school should have recommended counseling.
If it was my kid, I wouldn’t sue. Having all parties involved receive basic training school officials should have, along with a demotion, a cut in pay, and a big fat apology would be good enough.
Too bad nowadays nobody will agree to that. Hello lawyers!!!!
c
did they forget about the knives they found and the razor blade, forget OTC pain relievers (no a crime) but the knives and razor blades are
According to the ACLU website, and every other news report I’ve read, neither girl was strip searched because of any fear of weapons on them, nor of any threat of any of the items being possible dangerous weapons. Nor were they searched because either child was in possession of items prohibited by the school- other than the “400 milligram pills equivalent to two over-the-counter ibuprofen pills, such as Advil “.
Too many people are getting hung up on the words ‘prescription strength’. If the girls had been in possession of two otc strength ibuprofen pills, instead of the one rx strength, the searches would still have happened due to the Zero tolerance policy.
Which I generally think is stupid.
While the backstories of the kid who claimed a week earlier that kids were planning on getting high later that week, and his handing over of a pill to bolster his claim, or of the mysterious binder that was concealing a cigarette, lighters, and variously, according to different news reports, either a razor blade or a razor blade and knifes, are interesting, they don’t have much impact on this case because none of that was the reason for the searches.
This girl was searched soley for the reason that the girl that the boy turned in for supposedly planning to pass out pills and get high pointed the finger at the second girl as being the provider of the pill. Not because of any of the other semi-reported items.
They were not looking for other weapons or concealed objects- they admittedly were only searching for ‘pills’. And of the second girl simply because the first girl tried to pass the buck of getting in trouble for having the pill to the second girl.
In the bigger picture, there IS something wrong with this. To anyone who has children, would you like your child to be strip searched without having notified you or allowing you to be present, just because some other child got in trouble for a banned item and chose to point the finger to your child as the source?
I wouldn’t.
I find it interesting that reports say the first girl, the one found with the meds was also strip searched. I’ve read nothing that says she is suing. While I don’t like over-aggressive petty lawsuits, I think that detail says something.
Like, maybe, that she was the one who brought the pill. Or that a prank might have been pulled on the boy, and great laughs had all ’round by telling him that people planned to take ibuprofen to get high with them, not realizing they might get in trouble for having the meds later. People who are guilty/responsible for things rarely like to call attention to that by suing.
The pill was an NSAID- a non-steroidal anti-inflamatory. You cannot get high on one or 500 of them. In fact, they and the other gamut of NSAIDS, rx or otc are really actually poor at relieving any pain for most people. Unless used to reduce swelling or inflamation, such as with cramps, muscular inflammation from inury or arthritis, they’re fairly useless. Being reprimanded for being in possession of them is appropriate. Strip searching is not.
As I said earlier, the only danger in ibuprofen, advil, motril, tylenol is the risk of damage to your kidneys/liver if taken excessively, especially when combined with alcohol, as many alcoholics due to deal with hangovers. I know this from my years at the pharmacy, from internet info, and from having my ex ignore the warnings on the label- for which he ended up losing a kidney as a result.
Bottom line is that no matter your feelings about found items that could not be proven to belong to anyone in particular, this case is focussed on the fact that the girl was only strip searched because the other girl pegged her as being the source of the pill.
The whole premise being ludicrous, as girls in general, and women in particular generally do not store contriband in their vaginas unless they are borderhopping.
In fact, women usually make a point of not storing anything in their vaginas. We’re not kangaroos, y’know? That’s why we carry purses. To leave our vaginas free for more rewarding activities.
Vaginas aside, I’d be yelling bloody murder if either of my boys were treated this way either, just based on another child’s accusation.
c
Awesome.
The razor blade was for making the pills into powder, not a suicide kit as someone suggested. The kids snort the pills, they don’t swallow them. Sure, they can’t get high on something like that, but at the same time everyone needs to understand how serious this is, because if it isn’t stopped, it won’t be long before they get their hands on Lortab or Oxycontin, or Klonopin. Then it will become a very serious problem, very quickly.
Strip-searching any of them, however, is absolutely retarded.
Thank you Tamara for clearing up the razor blade issue. My question is this:
Do kids cut up aspirin into small pieces and smoke them in cigarettes?
I saw it done with crack. …just wondering
Thanks.
During high school I brought Midol to school (private Catholic school, mind you) and didn’t get in trouble over it, although I knew of another Catholic school in the area where a girl had gotten expelled for bringing Apsrin or some other generic type of pain reliever so maybe different private schools have different policies. They really need to reverse some of these ridiculous Draconian rules at high schools. To treat kids that bring pain relievers to school for valid reasons (cramps, headaches, pain-and no taking Ibuprofen to “get high” is not a valid reason) like criminals is ridiculous. Of course there should be a no-tolerance policy for using illegal drugs or for abusing legal medications, but going so far as to stripsearch students over prescription strength Ibuprofen (or as I read somewhere else the equivalent to 4 over the counter Ibuprofen) is just absurd.
I’m not at all sure you can get high off of ibuprofen. One time I had very bad cramps. I took two ibuoprofen as recommended on the bottle, with no effect. I was at work at the time and didn’t want to be sent home with no pay, so I took four more — that’s three times the maximum recommended dose. My cramps went away then but I felt really shitty, dizzy and nauseated. Not “high” at all. I almost threw up.
After reading the news day after day I am so glad I am not a parent.
If that were my daughter… Vice Principal Kerry Wilson… punished for rape.
As it stands, a warrant to search the home of Vice Principal Kerry Wilson and if aspirin is found a drug arrest is appropriate.
There is a reason that various drugs eventually become OTC. That reason is usually because people who’ve been ass-raped for years with the rx charges realized that they don’t work. So, let the poor masses with no insurance keep paying the rx companies.
Unless these children lived in Amish communities where there are no internets, there is no chance that they- or any adult- would think chopping up a NSAID would be worth the effort of finding a razor.
It really bothers me when there’s so much mis-information about the drugs or drug methods that people/teens are using these days. I haven’t used drugs recreationally for about 25 years, yet I’ve been able to keep up to date with what people use now, due to the computer.
We did not have crack. Or meth. Nobody used oxy. We certainly weren’t able to make ‘cheese’ with it. If you want to appear all ‘hip’ with the teens about drugs, then for goodness’s sake- get informed. Otherwise you’ll get as much respect from your kids as if you told them that they can get pregnant from ‘eskimo kisses’.
You cannot make any kind of ‘high’ drug from any NSAID as far as I know. You also can barely get any muscular injury pain relief from them either, lol. You are confusing having heard reports of the use of cutting what people consider anti-histamines (benedryl, sudafed) with other drugs/chems with useless non-abusable drugs. Just because some drugs are rx does not mean people can get high off them. Unless you consider lowering your cholesterol, thinning your blood to avoid strokes and heart attacks, or managing your thyroid levels ‘high’. Panic about non-abusable drugs helps nobody.
I find it scary that school personnel and even supposedly, their nurses are not informed about current drug trends. Any educated ‘nurse’ should know that NSAIDS are not abusable, and their only threat is of causing kidney/liver failure if used while drinking.
If you care about your children, get informed instead of losing their respect by not being informed about new drug fads.
I am presently starting a new blog, where I hope to be able to provide up-to-date about new drug fads for parents as well as true info about birth control for both teens and adults, among other topics.
Being ignorant or purposefully misleading about teenage drug use is a surefire way of alienating your teen- and makes it harder to compete with peer pressure. Babbling non-stop about just ‘saying no’ is about as useful as telling teens to just ignore their sexual feelings. You cannot guide your teens if they are more educated about drugs and sex than you are.
Music? Eh- that’s another topic.
c
I cannot believe all the people saying it should be left to the police to strip search her!!!
Is it something in the water there??
Teachers complain that parents aren’t involved, but then don’t contact them, FIRST THING, when strip searching their minor kids???
The 4th amendment says “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, *******against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no WARRANTS shall issue, but upon probable cause,***** supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”
I don’t care what “law” or school “rule” there is. Its UNCONSTITUTIONAL unless you have a warrant.
The sad part about this is the abuse of a 13 yr old minor isn’t unique. MANY, MANY cases are similar.
This pattern is the same case after case, but we’ll use this one for an example.
Authorities get a ‘tip’ on drugs.
Like Savana’s case.
So they search her locker, find NOTHING.
Gather her belongings, and search her backpack, etc, and find NOTHING.
>NOW< authorities, get an inspiration, or according to the judges a “reasonable expectation”, that if they strip search her and remove her bra and panties, that THEN they will find contraband.
Pardon my French, but how the frick do they figure that!??!?!?!
So those judges are saying that if I accused them of selling drugs. That the police would search their lockers, their offices and their cars and houses.
And find NOTHING.
That the police would STILL have a “reasonable expectation” that if they strip searched them and pulled their shorts off that they would find drugs???
HUH?? Maybe its just me, but I don’t get it.
If winning the “War on Drugs” depends on pulling the panties off of women & children, then we are in BIG trouble.
Please email the Attorney General of the United States and tell him we need a FEDERAL law to end these abuses.
Dept of Justice United States : AskDOJ@usdoj.gov
Thank you.
I AGREE WITH YOU ALL THE WAY
Can I do this to Hank Paulson, maybe he has that missing $350 billion TARP money up his ass.
STFU
jeffrey wynne-
You are really confusing… Why are you telling people to shut the fuck up when all they are doing is defending your sister and saying that this shouldn’t have happened? Everyone you have cussed out is on the girl’s side here. A few people have been sarcastic… But they were still saying that the school was out of line. Do you not understand sacrcasm? The majority opinion here is that schools have no business strip searching kids, and that is EVERYONE’S concern, because it could be their kid next. You need to calm down and READ what people are actually saying before you go all defensive and start screeching and name calling.
im sorry about taking my anger out on here i just got really pissed that there is people talking crap about my sister not just on this site. my mom got mad that i said a bunch of cuss words so im sorry for that but my sister really is a good person and doesnt deserve what happened but i think she will win and make a big difference
We all hope for the same. Most of us feel that her rights were grossly violated, and that this situation never should have happened. I understand that this must be a very frustrating situation for you. While you are certianly not offending anyone here by droppin a few cuss words- you should just watch who yuo are attacking. Several of the people who you were cussing at were making very good points- and were siding with your sister. Just take a deep breath, dude. Best of luck to your family in dealing with this situation. Hopefully all the school officials round there have learned how NOT to handle a situation like this in the future.
You are so mad that you are jumping on people who are taking up for you.. Calm down and read slow ok?
I don’t think she should have been stripped searched and I think mom should have been called first.
this is bullshit
fuck all ya’ll mothafuckaz who b h8in!!!!!!!!!!!!
i’m very average and stupid LOL
HEY Y’ALL COME SEE THE MOUNT GRAHAM!!!
dont be fuckin stupid funk, obviously hes talking about at school dumb fuck. and hes just trying to defend his sister from the bad things that people say so just shut ur cunt haha
Okay, seriously. I get trying to defend someone, but are you people fucking STUPID? No one here is saying anything bad about this girl. There is like, one poster here who agreed that it was ok for the school to do this. Read what you are commenting on before you do so. Then people will take you seriously. Twats.
Really Diana, what’s up with Jeff? Is he reading ANY of the comments he’s replying to? Reality Check’s comment was the only negative one I found, and it sounded like the ravings of an insane person.
Jeffrey, if you have access to any Xanax or Valium, I think it’s appropriate in your case to take one. In fact, Dr. Max says go ahead and take 2…with an oxy…wash them down with a Colt 45. You’re way too tense and need the full treatment.
nunya *sigh* just shut the fuck up, troll boy.
eat me, well, eat me….
You are just too funny.. I still love you Max
why does everyone have something syupid to say? this website is supposed to be about the girl… not about you guys calling eachother names and saying stupid shit….. this girl didnt deserve what happened and that should be what everyone is talking about who cares if her brother was really mad and was venting…so what, other people are allowed to say stupid shit and hes not? why dont we all go back to the subject of how we let our kids be subjected to this by putting them in public schools… we need to come together and do something big to show those mother fuckers that this is wrong, and take back out rights.
FUCKING HELL PEOPLE!!!!!
Seriously. Oh fuck, man, what is wrong with you?! Ima gonna type real slow so that you get it… Okay? Here goes:
1) This website is absolutely not about this girl. This website is about Bad people, which is why this POST is about the vice principal in this case… Because we think that what he did to this girl is a B-A-D thing.
2) I have no idea what you have been reading but you said “this girl didnt deserve what happened and that should be what everyone is talking about ”
Did you even read the comments? That IS what everyone is talking about. How this shouldn’t have happened.
…Okay, I just realized that I am probably typing to a bunch of fourteen year olds. Is school out or something? You guys are getting all pissy defensive because you do not seem to understand what anyone is talking about. I don’t even know why I keep coming back to this post, it just annoys the shit out of me for some reason.
it’s been like this all week diana – bad acid is my best guess, but i don’t remember taking it, do you?
-editor
Someone was handing out free acid and i was absent! Isnt that always the way!!!
why do u keep coming back then?
The same reason that everyone here keep coming back. ITS FUCKING ADDICTIVE!!! lol.
Why do I keep coming back? I fucking love this place. Probably because I am capable of comprehending what I read, therefore can participate in a conversation… And have some grasp on what I am commenting on! It is an amazing thing. Give it a try sometime. Just read real slow and you’ll get it.
And Max, I certianly don’t remember any acid… I could use some. Just a few more months of this stifiling sobriety! Lol.
I would be royally upset if someone did this to my son. I don’t care even if the police did it. I would need to be present to ensure that nothing untoward was happening towards my son. These girls were minors and therefore were even more so to be protected. Everyone that crossed the lines with thesegirls should be ashamed of themselves and fired.
R you F’ing stupid? The snitch never told on Savannah (the victim), but told on her “friend” who when questioned blamed Savannah.
You are basically saying that our rights & your rights mean shit. You need to wake up.
First of all, let me say YAY!! I finally made the top commentators list!! (I am UBER GEEKED)
Now then onto my comment.
Do they not teach comprehension in English/Reading classes anymore?
The ability to comprehend (or understand for those who dont know big words) is necessary when youre reading. The amount of students who dont have the ability to understand what theyve read is way too high–in my opinion, a large number come from this school. Im thinking not only is the school guilty for strip searching teenage girls, theyre also guilty of providing a poor education to these unsuspecting kids.
Seems like I havent read a single negative thing about this girl, at least any that made any kind of sense, yet, her cronies are in here freaking out in defense of her. Tells me theyre poor comprehenders…is that a word??
Anyways, my solution, get a reading tutor and start a petition to get a new English teacher. Illiteracy is a bitch.
Had it been my child, that child would have been pulled from that school as soon as I was aware of what happened. I would have sued as well, not so much for monetary gain (although therapy sessions aren’t cheap), but to make an example of the school. They went too far – period. At the very least, this girl’s mother should have been present for any search. I usually don’t agree with the ACLU on anything, but in this case, I hope the Supreme Court rules in Savanna’s favor.
Without apology, a school — a place of learning and development — took a perfectly good student and without parental notice proceeded to psychologically rape her? I cursed out my son’s teacher for not allowing him to put his name on a paper he just turned in and then failing him for it. I would’ve put the VP and nurse into the freakin floor if they did this to him.
The admin involved in the strip searching should be jailed for child molestation case closed. I don’t care who you are, but if you are in a position to be a Vice Principal of a middle school you damn well better have more common sense than that. I would like to punch this guy in his face actually.
I agree that the school had cause to search the student, but not without notifying the proper (and trained) authorities first, as well as the student’s mother. In failing to follow this logical procedure, the school Vice Principal merely brought this lawsuit upon himself and his fellow employees.
No child should be searched in such a manner, especially without their parents notified and nearby.
No child should be searched in such a manner, especially by adults not trained to such a search.
No child should be searched in such a manner, especially not without the child being first notified of his or her rights and options.
To frighten and humiliate a child in such a manner is both unprofessional and unethical.
Public schools are now just training for jail
If you don’t like it, pay for a private school….or better yet, home school
If you don’t like “Strip Searching Children,” give up a government service you pay for a private school or a home schooling environment which might reduce your ability to make enough money to provide better schools?
I’m at a loss. This case is pretty clearly a failure to think rationally, an administrator that failed to understand his role in education and an administration culture that forgot job one and proceeded to focus too much information on job’s thirty through thirty-four.
Yes, safety is a key aspect of the education of a child, and it is an almost thankless job where administrators take a great deal of abuse and pressure from parents as well as other administrators and teachers for the failings of their students, but the above is an example of unnecessary DRAMA, spelled out in capital letters because it had no place in a school outside of the endeavors between the average preteen, and not in the hearts, minds and actions of the schools organization.
I went to public schools, as did my brothers. We did receive supplemental education from our parents, friends, after school programs, personal interests and eventually publicly funded colleges with scholarships. I did suffer through a few small disciplinary actions in middle school, the worst of which was what I’d later learn was called “Loan Sharking” where I’d loan kids who “forgot their lunch money” a dollar to pay for lunch or buy an extra cookie. The next day I was owed that dollar and a quarter. If they forgot it an additional day, I was paid two whole dollars for my initial investment of a dollar, on the third day. If the third day failed to get a return on my investment, I complained to a teacher, and tried to get my money back. A teacher caught me, explained what I was doing was extortion, sent me to the principal’s office, and after the principal talked to I and the student I was extorting, our parents were called and I got the grounding/punishment of my young life. It was made clear to me that what I had done was a crime, punishable by law. I was clearly told that if I did it again, my parents would pick me up at the county jail. It sunk in. I didn’t loan money anymore. The exact same solution could have been used here.
Ibuprofen “can” be dangerous. It’s for adults to administer. You bring all of the girls involved to the principal’s office, tell them that it’s wrong because the school is liable for their safety and that next time they’ll be forced by the law to call the police. The first time it’s simple ignorance that the children involved should know was wrong. Their parents have been called and urged to handle this to the degree that they’d handle a bad fight or the bringing of another piece of contraband to a school. Send the girls home for the rest of the day, see them back in class again the next day and send home a letter to all other parents explaining school policy–roughly the same thing they do for lice or as a reminder when the kid who grows up on a farm brings his pocket knife to school by accident and gets 10 days OSS.
Reenactment of a scene from the Shield or the Wire, with little girls playing the crack dealers and prostitutes isn’t the solution. The solution is also not sending all of the kids to private schools or home school for everyone. The solution is reasoned approaches to daily living that take in the education of the student as the primary goal of any non-violent disciplinary action. If there was a missing gun, a vial of cocaine or some other unlikely substance. Call the parent and call the police. Despite all tendencies to the contrary as well as several songs still sung by young children, schools are not prisons.
Its not the publics fault that teachers are under paid. being a teacher is a choice you know it doesnt pay well when you are getting certified to teach, stop using it as a cop out for being assholes like police officers, they have some great teachers that love to teach and make a difference that get paid the same salary. I say all this to say treating out youth and criminals because your frustrated or you feel empowered with your position of authority only will generate a generation of young adults that will always push back against the system.
I resent that. I’m not an asshole, I’m an arrogant, narrow-minded, sadistic prick. Get it straight, Tony!
B.W. It may not be sarcasm. there are parents like that, my uncle was one of them. All he accomplished though was causing her to rebel and ultimately destroyed their relationship beyond repair.
Parents who have zero trust in their children will eventually pay the conquences (unless they don’t mind not being a part oftheir kids lives when they are adults).
this is the most biased piece of journalism I have ever read (mainly because I dont read journalism much due to its biased nature). Comparing a 13-year-old girl to a “cheap card table” simply because this writer disagrees with her action exemplifies this piece’s biased nature.
I’m not saying I don’t agree, and I’m not saying I do agree, thats irrelevant, but all these unnecessary, opinionated descriptions of this case that has been added in here is just horrific.
Tom, look down at the bottom of the story. It describes this article as commentary, and that gives the author the freedom to editorialize as much as he likes. Now you may not like the irreverent tone admin wrote the article with – personally I love his style, but to each his own – but make sure you know what you’re talking about before you call him a bad journalist.
Pfft. It’s not ‘horrific’, Tom. It’s entertaining!
You need to get out more.
Tom suck a dick.