Hello,
My 13yr old is in a special school for ebd. He has Asperger's.
The school have body searches, which although I had no experience of when he first started, at least I thought my son would be safe in school. To my knowledge this was to check for drugs/weapons making sure they didn't come into school premises.
Would you consider a body search appropriate to check for chewing gum? The teacher told me he was chewing in class and denied he was chewing gum and was still chewing an hour later. So they did a body search on him.
Your opinions would be appreciated.
ditzy.
hi Meiloyn,
Yes, I forgot to say, Absolutely no way would my son do drugs or carry weapons. My son doesn't like others touching him but I assume he just had to empty his pockets and they frisk him, I do think its a bit demeaning for a chewing gum incident though.
ditzy.
ditzy -
Depending on what country you're living in, this kind of search might be illegal (unreasonable search/seizure.) I know public schools in the US can't do this sort of thing without strong reason to believe the person has something illegal/severely disruptive on their person. For a private school it's a little fuzzier legally, but it may still apply....did you talk to the teacher or principal about your disapproving of this? They really should know.
Hi,
Thanks all, It definately was chewing gum with no suspicion of any other substance. I do have a meeting coming up. I dont really know what to do about it.
Thanks again.
ditzy.
I realise it can be hard for the authorities not to act paranoid when there have been all these cases of assaults and shootings and stabbings at schools but they need to be proactive and tackle the problem at its source, which is bullying and how it alienates some students.
Hya,
Thanks everyone, I have checked a little more into the search and I am a little mistaken, the search happened earlier in the day, on entry to the school and his chewing gum was found. I dont understand the relevence and if they took it off him how they can still accuse him of chewing but hey!!! at least the search was conducted properly.
ditzy.
It seems like frisking kids for weapons is like showing them a big red button and saying, "Don't push the button!" People are stupid. Won't they just try to find ways to get weapons in and beat the system? I play a game called World of Warcraft, and in the game people will do anything to try to beat the rules, even if it can get their accounts banned (which is very expensive!) I've learned a lot of unpleasant things about people from playing that game.
Then again, the schools where I live are pretty sedate. There are lots of guns in homes for hunting and such, but kids would never bring them to school.
Nothing surprises me anymore. Your story reminded me of this one a while back:
Rancho Bernardo High Schoolin San Diego. Rita Wilson, the school’s vice principal became overly obsessed that female students might attend a school dance wearing thongs or not wearing bras. Consequently, Ms. Wilson set up a checkpoint outside the dance where she and school counselor Natalie Johnson actually lifted students’ skirts–in full view of male students and faculty–in Wilson’s search for "inappropriate" underwear. Female students suspected of not wearing bras were forced to partially disrobe or had their tops groped. Some male students were also forced, again publicly, to demonstrate that they were wearing underwear. Suspects not apprehended at the checkpoint were subjected to roving patrols throughout the dance.
Would they prefer chewing gum or bad breath?
(I think my co-workers would prefer that I not have bad breath.)