<p>In a lot of states abuse (aka paddling) is perfectly okay. :(</p>
<p>My DD school has very random “lock down and bring in the dogs and search” probably 1 or 2 times a year. These searches are completely fine to me. Sorry if you are in High School and cannot manage to get through the day without a joint. Live with the consequences. Yes, it is against probably every district policy to bring tobacco onto campus, and as for a lighter, I’m sure if it is necessary for a “lab experiment” the flame will be provided by the school. And yes, if you consent to have a vehicle on school grounds, you must abide be the rules of random search. All that being said, until you are 18, live on your own, and your parents are not liable for your actions, guess what, life is not fair. Sorry!! p.s.,ANY vehicle on school grounds can be searched, including teachers and parents.</p>
<p>I wonder how much money and how many police hours were spent on this exercise and others like it, and I wonder how much good it has done anyone.</p>
<p>GA2012MOM: That argument was pretty bad. What about for the students who are 18? And what the heck does parental liability have anything do with it?</p>
<p>Even if you are 18, you are still on school grounds with school rules, and yes, parents are liable for children under 18. In many states parents can be fined or even jailed for the actions of minor children.</p>
<p>Our school recently had an “administrative lockdown” and search by drug dogs. It only lasted 1 hour. The dogs checked the lockers, and some classrooms, which were chosen at random. The kids did NOT leave the room, but stood on the side while the dogs sniffed the backpacks. If a dog got a “hit”, the student and backpack were taken to the office to open it in front of an administrator (not in front of the other kids). They also had the dogs check the cars in the parking lot, and any cars that got “hits” they summoned the student unlock the car. No students were searched, although kids called to the office or to their cars were asked to turn out their pockets. One kid was found to have drugs and was arrested. Students in classes that were not being searched just continued with lesson plans as usual. Other than that one student, I don’t think anything was found.</p>
<p>Our principal said several parents called to THANK her. One stopped her in the store to thank her. She had no complaints from parents. And now kids will think twice about bringing drugs to school.</p>
<p>I’m more concerned about the search of their person. How far is the school allowed to go? Pull up your shirt or take off your shirt? Pull up your pant legs or drop em? Seems like a very bad precident.</p>
<p>Check out this video with the student and his baggy pants
[Don’t</a> trust kids with baggy pants - Best of Google Video](<a href=“http://www.bestofgooglevideo.com/video.php?video=160]Don’t”>Don't trust kids with baggy pants - Best of Google Video)</p>
<p>I worry a great deal about the precedent of the government being allowed to compel students to attend public school, and then once they’re in public school compel them to allow their privacy rights to be violated.</p>
<p>I don’t care how many parents are happy about it, I know if I were a student at that school that I would be complaining, and so would my family. Searches are never justified without cause. Period.</p>
<p>Momneedsadvice…that happens at our school too. I think that every time they have had that exercise at our school, it has netted a few arrests. I think it is absolutely appropriate. (All of the kids at OP’s school being searched–that, I do think, is over the line).</p>
<p>D2 is very active with the SADD club. One question I have is, other than the high school “grapevine”, is that students being arrested or suspended for weapons or drugs is never publicized. I am not arguing that kids’ names be used, but just the fact that there are issues within the school (and what the school is doing about it) should be a bit more publicized. Our high school is very highly regarded in a massive school district that has several high schools in crisis. However, I’d bet that there are lots of upper-middle class parents out there who are completely clueless about the extent of the drug and alcohol abuse among kids at our high school…</p>
<p>Oops, I will ammend what I said about “bring in the dogs and SEARCH.” What I should have said is the same as momneedsadvice, where the dogs did the “alerting” for things, not kid’s being bodily searched at random. D school has never subjected students to that invasive and personal of a search, and I would be outraged at that.</p>
<p>so what if kids have pills, most dogs are trained for booze or pills, so just pop a pill, which is often much more dangerous than a joint</p>
<p>I assume you meant to say that most dogs are trained for booze or pot…
I had a young co-worker who was physically searched when the dogs sniffed out his prescription (heart) medicine. Re: pills, at our high school, the only prescription medicine that kids can have with them are inhalers…and NO other over-the-counter meds. Even all the legit ones have to be registered and held at the nurse’s office.</p>
<p>OP again. This was a public school involved, so I just looked at the school board website to see what it said about drug searches. Based on what I read, this one exceeded their policy, which talks about “reasonable belief” all the way through. In other words, the initial random search with the dogs was fine, but according to the policy, there should have been a reasonable belief they would find something before they had to roll up their pants, hold up their shirts and head for the cold. And their backpacks were supposed to be searched in front of them and another person. So much for written policies. According to the children, the policemen were very hostile and condescending to the students in addition to the aforesaid abuse. An interesting civics lesson.</p>
<p>“an interesting civics lesson” indeed.</p>
<p>1of42:</p>
<p>It could be as simple as that school having a rule against having lighters on campus, some did despite the rules, and they were punished for it.</p>
<p>OP:</p>
<p>Are the parents planning to do anything about this search - i.e. protest the actions of the school in writing to the principal, the head of the district, the mayor, the police department, etc. and work with the school to establish more resonable procedures they may use in the future?</p>
<p>ucsd<em>ucla</em>dad:</p>
<p>…what’s your point? I never doubted that the school has a rule against lighters, merely expressed my opinion that if such a rule exists it is absurd.</p>
<p>The point is that if there are rules against it then the students shouldn’t have had them whether they agreed with the rule or not. What would you expect the school to do if they found banned items - nothing?</p>
<p>It’s also possible that the school didn’t have a rule against lighters but punished the students for them anyway. This would be an issue IMO but not if it was already an established rule.</p>
<p>ok, let me repeat:</p>
<p>I never doubted that the school has a rule against lighters, merely expressed my opinion that if such a rule exists it is absurd.</p>
<p>And I’ll say it again:</p>
<p>I think a rule against lighters is unjustified.</p>
<p>What would I expect the school to do if catching a student contravening their rules? Punish them. But that doesn’t make the rules justified. And if I were the student that was punished, I would protest.</p>
<p>
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<p>In New York City, far worse things are going on than searches for “snuff” or cigarette lighters. Unless the school had informed parents prior to searching students, one would think it would be illegal for any official to physically put their hands on a student, regardless of agenda.
As someone had mentioned earlier, the pathetic personnel at this school apparently have their heads too far up their butts, because all it takes is one child to claim any sort of inappropriateness during one of these searches, and the school will find themselves in a very negative light. We all know how the media loves these stories.
Parents a few million dollars richer, child more than likely gets personnel who conducted the search out of work, subjecting them to criticism for their now criminal record for sexual harassment, EVERYONE IS HAPPY :-). </p>
<p>Something like that happened while I was in HS. A teacher grabbed a students arm in the middle of class, and I vividly remember her telling the teacher " kiss your job goodbye" at which point she ran down the hallway screaming HELP HELP, and claimed the teacher has touched her breast inappropriately. Although there was plenty of students who implied this was not the case, the school fired the teacher immediately, due to threats to file a lawsuit and go to the media by the parents of the young girl.</p>
<p>I agree that a rule banning lighters is completely unjustified. What if the student was an eagle scout or something of that nature, carrying certain items that are COMPLETELY LEGAL should not be considered banned by the school. Unless the school had informed parents and students that lighters were not prohibited on campus, it seems completely unjustifiable on the schools end. I would complain.</p>