10yr old student strip searched at SCHOOL

[druidp]

There are no words. Shit gets real when a school administrator takes their cue from the TSA.

www.wral.com/news/local/story/11221117/

Clinton third-grader strip-searched after being accused of stealing

CLINTON, N.C. — The mother of a Clinton third-grader says a school administrator went too far when she strip-searched her child after accusations that he stole from another student.

MORE INFO
Teresa Holmes statement

Clarinda Cox says her 10-year-old son, Justin, a student at Union Elementary School, was ordered to take off everything but his T-shirt and boxer shorts on June 1 after a girl accused him of taking $20.

Justin told his mother that a girl dropped the money in the cafeteria and that he picked it up and gave it back to her, Cox says.

"If I felt he needed to be searched, I would have brought him into the bathroom," she said Monday. "You could have had a witness in the bathroom with me. I would have searched my son."

The assistant principal, Teresa Holmes, says in a statement that several other students, as well as two teachers, told her that the money was missing and that they had seen Justin dive under the lunchroom table for it.

Holmes, a 28-year educator, says she told Justin that, if he had the money, he should return it to the girl or that she would have to search him.

"Justin said that he did not have the money and to ‘search me,’" Holmes said, adding that the boy, over the course of the school year, had lied many times.

When she did not find the money on Justin, she said, she hugged him, apologized and talked to him about the importance of having a good reputation.

The money was "miraculously" found on the floor, Holmes said, adding that a teacher said it was not there before the search.

"Any staff member who has ever worked with me knows that I care for my students and that even when I have to discipline them, I love them," she said.

Cox says she is not only upset about her son being searched but also that no one notified her about it. She said she found out about it from Justin when he came home from school that day upset.

"I was furious," she said.

Sampson County Schools spokeswoman Susan Warren says Cox should have been informed about the search but that Holmes did nothing wrong and that a male janitor was present for the search.

"The assistant principal was within her legal authority, her legal right, to do the search," Warren said. "She may have been overzealous in her actions."

Cox says that, with or without an apology, her son was violated.

"She came up to him and rubbed her fingers around inside of his underwear," Cox said. "If that isn't excessively intrusive, I don't know what is."

[fernane]

Why would she "rub her fingers around the inside of his underwear" if he was wearing boxers? Sounds like the mom is adding some exaggerations for the sake of argument. If the school was legally allowed and followed protocol what can you do? Although you can easily check a kid's pants pockets without taking them off. She probably overreacted, but apologized, so what is the mom looking for besides media attention?
Sounds like this kid had built a reputation that eventually led to susceptibility of this missing money, so hopefully he can learn something from this besides hatred of authority.

[EloiseWeenie]

:-| :-| :-| :-|

[charminglife]

This whole thing is inappropriate, but the hugging/talk about the reputation part after the search is especially odd.

[thejackpot]

I doubt she searched his underwear. If the principal did not violate district policy then she is in the clear. The district policy should be addressed as that is the larger issue in this situation.

[eclaires]

I would flip my fucking shit - even leaving out the underwear part.

This is why I am going to end up arrested at some point. I don't care if it's district policy, it's fucked up.

[druidp]

Jun 20, 2012 8:50:41 GMT -5 fernane said:

Why would she "rub her fingers around the inside of his underwear" if he was wearing boxers? Sounds like the mom is adding some exaggerations for the sake of argument. If the school was legally allowed and followed protocol what can you do? Although you can easily check a kid's pants pockets without taking them off. She probably overreacted, but apologized, so what is the mom looking for besides media attention?
Sounds like this kid had built a reputation that eventually led to susceptibility of this missing money, so hopefully he can learn something from this besides hatred of authority.

I'm sorry, but I will throw down if my kids' clothing is removed by anyone other than myself, my husband or an emergency professional while he/she is on school grounds. And the fact that she was never notified about it - what the hell is that? How is she supposed to reinforce lessons at school (if this kid had repeated instances of being in trouble) if she isn't told "hey, you know we had to search your son today because he was accused of stealing $20 from someone, and as you know he has a habit of lying..."

[UMaineTeach]

Jun 20, 2012 8:36:18 GMT -5 druidp said:

Sampson County Schools spokeswoman Susan Warren says Cox should have been informed about the search but that Holmes did nothing wrong and that a male janitor was present for the search.

"The assistant principal was within her legal authority, her legal right, to do the search,"

I am finding this very hard to believe. Really? Legal to strip search a child for $20? Really!?

The child's defiant "so search me" isn't any justification either.

The only nude children I have been around in years of working with children were for toileting/changing or the kid took his own clothes off and I was in a group of teachers trying verbally convince the child to get re-dressed, minimizing the number of witnesses, while still making sure there were enough eyes and ears to avoid a lawsuit.

[fernane]

Jun 20, 2012 8:57:51 GMT -5 druidp said:

Jun 20, 2012 8:50:41 GMT -5 fernane said:

Why would she "rub her fingers around the inside of his underwear" if he was wearing boxers? Sounds like the mom is adding some exaggerations for the sake of argument. If the school was legally allowed and followed protocol what can you do? Although you can easily check a kid's pants pockets without taking them off. She probably overreacted, but apologized, so what is the mom looking for besides media attention?
Sounds like this kid had built a reputation that eventually led to susceptibility of this missing money, so hopefully he can learn something from this besides hatred of authority.

I'm sorry, but I will throw down if my kids' clothing is removed by anyone other than myself, my husband or an emergency professional while he/she is on school grounds. And the fact that she was never notified about it - what the hell is that? How is she supposed to reinforce lessons at school (if this kid had repeated instances of being in trouble) if she isn't told "hey, you know we had to search your son today because he was accused of stealing $20 from someone, and as you know he has a habit of lying..."

I agree she definitely should have been notified. It sounds like she just took off his pants if he was still in shirt and boxers, but I don't know why she couldn't check his pockets with his pants still on. It is kinda weird, but like pp said, if it's within district policy she likely can't get in touble over it.

[pixy0stix]

Jun 20, 2012 9:07:32 GMT -5 fernane said:

but I don't know why she couldn't check his pockets with his pants still on.

First, I'd be livid that my child had to take their clothes off, BUT...

I'd rather they search the clothes with my child not in them, and be subject to inappropriate groping, kwim? That's why the clothes were removed, so there wouldn't be any accusations of touching.

[IIOY]

Jun 20, 2012 8:36:18 GMT -5 druidp said:

When she did not find the money on Justin, she said, she hugged him, apologized and talked to him about the importance of having a good reputation.

I'm sorry, wut?

[heightsyankee]

Jun 20, 2012 9:31:34 GMT -5 IIOY said:

Jun 20, 2012 8:36:18 GMT -5 druidp said:

When she did not find the money on Justin, she said, she hugged him, apologized and talked to him about the importance of having a good reputation.

I'm sorry, wut?

This is the only part that seems ok to me. I assume the apology was "I'm sorry I didn't believe you" rather than "I'm sorry I took all your clothes off."

[cookiemdough]

Jun 20, 2012 9:31:34 GMT -5 IIOY said:

Jun 20, 2012 8:36:18 GMT -5 druidp said:

When she did not find the money on Justin, she said, she hugged him, apologized and talked to him about the importance of having a good reputation.

I'm sorry, wut?

I am pretty sure she still thinks he is liar.

[heightsyankee]

Jun 20, 2012 9:40:24 GMT -5 cookiemdough said:

Jun 20, 2012 9:31:34 GMT -5 IIOY said:

I'm sorry, wut?

I am pretty sure she still thinks he is liar.

Yeah but even if she thinks he is, she still owed him an apology...

[meshaliuknits]

Strip search over $20? No. That shit is in the policy for drugs and weapons, not for small amounts of cash.

[heightsyankee]

Jun 20, 2012 9:48:04 GMT -5 nuggetbrain said:

He probably is a liar. He probably did steal the money, and then dropped it again when people started calling him out on it. Either way, the only time a school administrator or staff member should be taking the clothes off a child is if they're on fire.

Or the kids don't like him (because he's a liar, to be fair) and they dropped it on the floor when he was being strip searched.

[cookiemdough]

Jun 20, 2012 9:43:42 GMT -5 heightsyankee said:

Jun 20, 2012 9:40:24 GMT -5 cookiemdough said:

I am pretty sure she still thinks he is liar.

Yeah but even if she thinks he is, she still owed him an apology...

Of course she owes him an apology, but it is kind of one of those empty ones like "I am sorry you made me do this to you". Giving him the lecture on his reputation does nothing because even after this one instance of him not being in the wrong, she is not going to feel differently about him.

[heightsyankee]

No, but as an authority figure she has to apologize as a matter of example. She has to show him that it's ok to say you were wrong and apologize for it.

Listen, what she did was uncalled for. I'm just saying that of the whole incident, getting down on his level, offering a hug and saying "i'm sorry" is the least of the evils. It would not have been better for her to tell the truth and wrap it all up by saying "I didn't find anything but I still think you're a liar."

[IIOY]

But as cookie beautifully explained, the apology was completely undermined by the "you made me do this" flavor of the comment about the importance of reputation. The entire situation is terrible and the "apology" was just insult to injury.

[cookiemdough]

Jun 20, 2012 10:01:47 GMT -5 heightsyankee said:

No, but as an authority figure she has to apologize as a matter of example. She has to show him that it's ok to say you were wrong and apologize for it.

Listen, what she did was uncalled for. I'm just saying that of the whole incident, getting down on his level, offering a hug and saying "i'm sorry" is the least of the evils. It would not have been better for her to tell the truth and wrap it all up by saying "I didn't find anything but I still think you're a liar."

lol, I am pretty sure there is some middle ground there. She could have just apologized for wrongly accusing him and left it at that. In general though I will admit it is a big pet peeve of mine for people to word apologies in a manner that doesn't really take responsibility for their actions. Essentially she blamed her actions on his reputation. Either a search is appropriate in that situation or not.

[heightsyankee]

Eh. Depends on what she said and how she said it. SHe's still an asshat but this part is not eye brow raising for me.

[basilosaurus]

Thanks, scotus. If it's ok to strip search a girl for contraband ibuprofen, why not for $20?

[melodywoman747]

Jun 20, 2012 8:50:41 GMT -5 fernane said:

Why would she "rub her fingers around the inside of his underwear" if he was wearing boxers? Sounds like the mom is adding some exaggerations for the sake of argument. If the school was legally allowed and followed protocol what can you do? Although you can easily check a kid's pants pockets without taking them off. She probably overreacted, but apologized, so what is the mom looking for besides media attention?
Sounds like this kid had built a reputation that eventually led to susceptibility of this missing money, so hopefully he can learn something from this besides hatred of authority.

You have alot of nerves,mom overreact,really ^o) Quit taking up for the retired AP.Whats wrong with trying to make sure this stuff doesn't happen to another child?? If you ask me he learned not to help a stranger ever again. Sad lesson, every child lies, still does not explain why she could not call parents or even a resource officer(pretty sure they would have told her it was illegal.)Thats why she hid the search from the main principal,and the school is throwing her under the bus.So get your facts straight and quit knocking this poor child down. :@

[fernane]

Jun 22, 2012 21:25:40 GMT -5 melodywoman747 said:

Jun 20, 2012 8:50:41 GMT -5 fernane said:

Why would she "rub her fingers around the inside of his underwear" if he was wearing boxers? Sounds like the mom is adding some exaggerations for the sake of argument. If the school was legally allowed and followed protocol what can you do? Although you can easily check a kid's pants pockets without taking them off. She probably overreacted, but apologized, so what is the mom looking for besides media attention?
Sounds like this kid had built a reputation that eventually led to susceptibility of this missing money, so hopefully he can learn something from this besides hatred of authority.

You have alot of nerves,mom overreact,really Quit taking up for the retired AP.Whats wrong with trying to make sure this stuff doesn't happen to another child?? If you ask me he learned not to help a stranger ever again. Sad lesson, every child lies, still does not explain why she could not call parents or even a resource officer(pretty sure they would have told her it was illegal.)Thats why she hid the search from the main principal,and the school is throwing her under the bus.So get your facts straight and quit knocking this poor child down.

You must be the lovely mother I have no idea about half of what you're referring to as it wasn't in the article. I already agreed that you should have been called regarding the search and the article states the search did not violate district policy, whether you agree with it or not. I am not really defending or not defending anyone. School should have done some things differently but if it's not against policy there's not much that can be done punishment wise. But if you want to work on policy reform, by all means go for it/kudos/more power to you.