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House Approves Strip Search Bill

By Jeralyn, Section Crime Policy
Posted on Thu Sep 21, 2006 at 05:19:33 AM EST
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The deceptively titled "Student and Teacher Safety Act of 2006" has passed the House. It will result in a vast increase of wide-scale searches of public school students based on even the slightest suspicion that just one student brought drugs to school. The searches could take the form of pat-downs, bag searches, or strip searches depending on how administrators interpret the law.

The Student Teacher Safety Act of 2006 (HR 5295) mandates that any school receiving federal funding -- essentially every public school -- must adopt policies that allow teachers and school officials to conduct random, warrantless searches of every student, at any time, on the flimsiest of pretexts. Simply by claiming that one student is suspected of having drugs in the building could provide officials with authority to search every student.

The bill now moves to the Senate. Drug Policy Alliance says:

"It looks like this bill was rushed to the House floor to help out the sponsor, Rep. Geoff Davis (R-KY/4th), who is in a tight re-election race. This vote lets him say he's getting things done in Washington. But I would be surprised to see a similar push in the Senate."

Students for a Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) has more. Get ready to mobilize and beseech your Senators to vote against this foolish bill. Drug Policy Alliance says:

HR 5295 is opposed in its current form by several groups, including the Drug Policy Alliance, Students for Sensible Drug Policy, the ACLU, the American Federation of Teachers, the National Parent Teacher Association, the American Association of School Administrators, and the National School Boards Association.

SSDP has this latest post.

In the past 24 hours the National Parent Teacher Association, the American Association of School Administrators, and the National School Boards Association have all joined SSDP and our allies (Drug Policy Alliance, DRCNet, and the ACLU) in issuing statements opposing the bill. This issue is also being covered in the national press.

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    House Approves Strip Search Bill | 24 comments (24 topical)
    Re: House Approves Strip Search Bill (none / 0) (#2)
    by Che's Lounge on Thu Sep 21, 2006 at 06:19:18 AM EST
    Sgt. Schulz with real life prisoners.

    Re: House Approves Strip Search Bill (none / 0) (#8)
    by eric on Thu Sep 21, 2006 at 07:55:04 AM EST
    It's important to condition the children early on so they don't get any crazy ideas later on as adults that they might have civil rights.

    Re: House Approves Strip Search Bill (none / 0) (#7)
    by Punchy on Thu Sep 21, 2006 at 08:13:11 AM EST
    I simply cannot fathom the embarrassment, the shame, and the possible harm that could be inflicted by strip-searching 14-year old girls and boys. I'm PRAYING this would be done by professional police officers, and not the typical hall monitors. PLEASE tell me that part of the bill is included...

    Re: House Approves Strip Search Bill (none / 0) (#9)
    by ScottW on Thu Sep 21, 2006 at 08:13:11 AM EST
    Public school students are going to have even fewer rights then private school students. If this goes through, there will be more busts, and I will assume the argument for public education will included the increased drug use in our public schools. Meanwhile the private school kids will not be subject to forth amendment violations. "Go vouchers, it's your bday...." Did I miss something in civics class, I just don't remember the constitution being adult specific. Why do fetus' have so many rights, but once they become young adults they lose them.

    Re: House Approves Strip Search Bill (none / 0) (#1)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Sep 21, 2006 at 08:13:12 AM EST
    This is sick. If I still had school age kids I'd be preemptivley making arrangements for a scool that receives no federal funding, or for having them tutored at home. Not everyone can do that, though, and it will be the lowest income families whose kids will have to put up with this kind of intimidation. "Student and Teacher Safety" my ass. This has abolutely nothing to do with protecting kids, or teachers. It's another republican "there's a sucker born every minute" bill. The bill is a lie from the word go. Why do republicans hate their kids? ---edger

    Re: House Approves Strip Search Bill (none / 0) (#3)
    by kdog on Thu Sep 21, 2006 at 08:13:12 AM EST
    High schools will have to stop teaching civics...or else the kids might realize they have rights and constitutional protections against such intrusions.

    Re: House Approves Strip Search Bill (none / 0) (#4)
    by roy on Thu Sep 21, 2006 at 08:13:12 AM EST
    One way to combat this is to encourage all kids who are touched in no-touch areas to report the molestation to the police, the press, and the parents. Jail time and RSO jackets may dampen grownups' enthusiasm for putting their hands on children. Consider that the faculty would never consent to parents strip-searching them, and you can see what liars the faculty are.

    Re: House Approves Strip Search Bill (none / 0) (#5)
    by cpinva on Thu Sep 21, 2006 at 08:13:12 AM EST
    while it may ultimately not pass, it won't be for lack of trying. frankly, i'd bet money the average parent hasn't a clue about this. were it not for TL, i'd never have known, since the MSM has seen fit to ignore it. i'd like to say this legislation surprises me. would that it did.

    Re: House Approves Strip Search Bill (none / 0) (#6)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Sep 21, 2006 at 08:13:12 AM EST
    I think it's short sighted to focus solely on the illegal drugs aspect. Valid and legally acquired prescription or over the counter medicine, weapons, pseudo-weapons such as unannounced scissors, tools, or other household items, cell phones, stolen or copyrighted material, explicate material, evidence related to vandalism or other crimes on or off campus could all potentially be pretexts to a search of the entire student body. We've all heard cases where some student brings aspirin or some prescribed medicine to school and gets caught up in the 'zero tolerance' policy. Or a pair of scissors. And now many school districts have banned cell phones. I wouldn't be surprised to hear of some principal or school board that starts verifying students' ipods contain only legally acquired media. Do you think your kids will never attend a school where some student - any student - ends up in one of these gray areas? And do you want the school to have permission to then search the entire student body?

    Re: House Approves Strip Search Bill (none / 0) (#12)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Sep 21, 2006 at 10:44:58 AM EST
    Eric wrote.
    It's important to condition the children early on so they don't get any crazy ideas later on as adults that they might have civil rights.
    Never a truer word was writ. But this conditioning is from a contemporary doctrine. Sometime in the early seventies, myself and my buddy took our families to an outdoor pool complex in Ontario. We two, being Brits and a tad to the left, upon spying the thirty or so "Don'ts" on the rules board turned to each other, and in stereo said, "Get em young" With regard to the topic, it was some good while ago that I watched this on ACLU TV. It had been archived but given what's afoot it is back up, front row centre. It is with no little envy that I look at the ACLU. we badly need a similar organisation in this country. I don't suppose for a minute that the right thinks the same way, but the ACLU are the true patriots in America. We do have something here that would be a godsend to your country, alluded to quite recently by Bill Maher. It is that part of the parliamentary system that allows for a vote of no confidence in the leader. For those unfimiliar, the leader has to stand down but the party retains power. For I must say this, and it is by no means a rant. I am convinced G W is totally insane, or in the vernacular he is f'g bonkers. And I am equally convinced that country has lost it's way because after six years of bushco's misrule. That which would once have been totally unacceptable has now become so, not just become so, has become the accepted norm.

    Re: House Approves Strip Search Bill (none / 0) (#13)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Sep 21, 2006 at 12:18:16 PM EST
    Having linked to ACLU TV in my previous post gave me oportunity to watch a short film in the "War on Drugs" If you like feeling angry,seething with impotence and hate injustice,go watch. It covers most topics, from bent cops, to inhuman sentencing (mandatory minimums) the use of touts, (snitches to you) medical MJ, swat teams to raid a hospice, and not least footage of a sweeping drug raid in a SC school, un-f'g believable,a bright note was the spiel given by "Cops against MJ laws"

    Re: House Approves Strip Search Bill (none / 0) (#15)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Sep 21, 2006 at 02:05:02 PM EST
    Not only are our children's rights being shed at the schoolhouse door, they are now presumed guilty until proven innocent apparently. Besides, why waste the time on civics class when all you want are pliant sheep? Q: What's next on the lunch menu? A: This wonderful new meal called Soylent Green. Mmm Mmm Good!

    Re: House Approves Strip Search Bill (none / 0) (#10)
    by Pol on Thu Sep 21, 2006 at 03:13:34 PM EST
    I just passed this info on to several school pricipals I know.

    Re: House Approves Strip Search Bill (none / 0) (#11)
    by kdog on Thu Sep 21, 2006 at 03:13:34 PM EST
    And our leaders have the gaul to lecture other countries on freedom and liberty and authoritarian rule. It's a laugher for sure. Our old buddy Fred Dawes is right...we aren't even going to recognize this country in 50 years or so. By then we will all be strip searched and interrogated at our front doors every morning. Silly me...I thought freedom would never go out of style.

    Re: House Approves Strip Search Bill (none / 0) (#14)
    by Richard Aubrey on Thu Sep 21, 2006 at 03:13:34 PM EST
    You can check out the East Stroudsberg case from some years ago. Middle school girls were given, against their wishes, sometimes expressed with tears, basic vaginal exams in school. The admin said they thought the parents understood this would happen. The parents didn't think so. Lots of outrage. Not a federal program. I don't think the school board got the message, other than not to get caught next time. Typical.

    Re: House Approves Strip Search Bill (none / 0) (#16)
    by cpinva on Thu Sep 21, 2006 at 03:13:34 PM EST
    as i noted above, i don't think this will pass in the senate (ok, i hope it won't!), it's just for election time show & tell. however, as i gave it some more thought (yes, i do think occasionally.), it occurs to me that it might be a blessing in disguise. consider: the legislation passes, is signed into law and starts being enforced. as i also noted, i doubt many of my parent peers are even aware of this, it's flown pretty much under the radar. the first time it's cited, as the basis for a school-wide strip search, there will be an explosion. it will hit world-wide media. every parent of school age children, not living in a cave, will suddenly know about it. and not be at all happy. not only will there be lawsuits, any senator or representative who voted for it will feel some heat, as they vainly attempt to justify it. conceivably, where wars, death & destruction have failed to incite the masses to rise up in revolt (because so few are directly at risk), this might be the catalyst that finally does it. ok, probably not, but i can always hope, can't i?

    Re: House Approves Strip Search Bill (none / 0) (#17)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Sep 22, 2006 at 11:40:04 AM EST
    At least no one here said that still believing in civil rights is like still believing in the Tooth Fairy.

    Re: House Approves Strip Search Bill (none / 0) (#18)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Sep 22, 2006 at 11:40:04 AM EST
    High schools will have to stop teaching civics... They stopped long ago. In case you hadn't noticed, the only way to get a teaching position in history, social studies, and civics is to be a coach. THese are "easy" topics to teach so the coaches gravitate to them (as a second choice after PE). One big advantage of being a teacher of these subjects is that the annual acheivement tests focus on Math and English skills so don't reveal your abysmal teaching performance. Not only are coaches on the whole weaker teachers, but they also are more conservative and more likely to teach civics-as-learned-from-Rush-Limbaugh.

    Re: House Approves Strip Search Bill (none / 0) (#19)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Sep 22, 2006 at 11:40:04 AM EST
    Aren't there already enough HS teachers putting their hands on students' naughty bits? Jeez, now it's just going to get worse. Ugh.

    Re: House Approves Strip Search Bill (none / 0) (#20)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Sep 28, 2006 at 12:33:04 PM EST
    This is completely wrong. Here we try and teach our children that no one is to touch you in a way you don't want to be touched and now we are giving teachers and administrators the right to search the young and innocent. not to say that something doesn't need to be done about the drug and weapons that are taken to school by kids every year but this is not the answer. we already have those teachers that enjoy sexual realtionships with minors and now were going to allow them to pat down and search your youth. i think this was a very lazy way that we have tried to solve an on going problem. this will only lead to more problems. and let me tell you something if anyone searches my little one then they must answer to me and i wont be very pleasent

    Re: House Approves Strip Search Bill (none / 0) (#21)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Oct 02, 2006 at 08:29:25 AM EST
    well im a 14 year old girl and i ould like to voice my opinion in this. what has teh world come too? strip earches i thought they were for criminals not children and i thought there we had rights if anything this is an infrigment of human rights personally i wodnt like to be touched by a 50 year old teacher on a suspicion of drugs! i would never do drugs but not everyone knows that this leaves a door open for child molestors and perverts wouldnt you agree? things are already bad with malestors isnt this making it worse! i hope so much this bill doesnt come to pass i really do dread if teachers are given this power over students

    Re: House Approves Strip Search Bill (none / 0) (#22)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Oct 03, 2006 at 10:27:54 AM EST
    This was widely talked about online several weeks ago. I hadn't heard much recently and wanted to find out what had happened after a conversation about all the media coverage of the shooting in the Amish school. Somebody had said, "Why would anyone shoot innocent children!" and I remembered this bill. It's the massive media coverage I'm talking about, not the tragedy itself. I am very concerned that this will pass in light of the conditioning that we are being fed. Look what happened when we were fed images of the WTC collapsing over and over and over again. If you have teenagers (and mine is a boy and not even a very self-conscious one at that) then you know just how devastating it would be to have a strange man strip your child and paw them and get away with it. This is definitely social conditioning, both in ramming the bill through and in conditioning the children to dociley accept abuse. I fear for my child and his friends, but I fear more for myself and anyone else who has to live in a society of people who accept this kind of abuse as "normal" and something that they are powerless to resist.

    Re: House Approves Strip Search Bill (none / 0) (#23)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Oct 05, 2006 at 12:13:21 AM EST
    This Bill gives perverts in positions of power one more excuse to molest children in the guise of a search. This is sick!

    Re: House Approves Strip Search Bill (none / 0) (#24)
    by Mike on Thu Oct 05, 2006 at 01:38:17 PM EST
    im a proud father of 6 kids we live in middleboro ma.my son was up late doing anouther stupid home work asignement anouther control method used be the school system like we the parents dont have enough to pay for allready...the next day he went to prisoncamp sorry school and was asked by his teacher why so tired. he replyed i was up late doing your home work assmnt then out of nowhere anouther kid in class says because we smoked a fatty implying that he smoked a joint so the teacher sent the 12 year old boys to the wardens office.i mean princebles off where he proceeded to stick his fingers in my sons ass crack and look in his shorts.without a police officer there and without even calling me or my wife to even let us know he was going to molest my kid .i went to the police the next day they called the school to ask why they would do that without the officer there who went through training for searching thats assigned to do that for the schools the molester vp says smug like that he dont have to no more be cause of the new law..upon talking to other parents in town that say this is something that goes on up there often.im currantly putting a list of parents together that think this guy vp has issues and shouldnt be working w/our children..and its all because some dumb ass wants to get into office.we need to put raising our kids back in the parents hands.and let the teachers teach them timestables or history .im not going to put up with this at all with all the sick f**Ks out there you here about teachers banging 13 year old boys and having there kids some shmuck politician wants to through our kids under a bus and let some didler perv have states permition to touch our kids i think not.fornier stop touching our kids

    House Approves Strip Search Bill | 24 comments (24 topical)