Pubdate: Thu, 26 Feb 2015
Source: Guardian, The (CN PI)
Copyright: 2015 The Guardian, Charlottetown Guardian Group Incorporated
Contact:  http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/174
Page: A6

NO EXCUSE FOR STRIP-SEARCHING HIGH SCHOOLER

(An editorial from the Toronto Star distributed by The Canadian
Press.)

Quebec's education minister has stepped back from defending the
strip-searching of a 15-year-old girl at school. Provincial officials
now say they'll review rules that were used to justify taking such an
extreme measure.

But what's there to review? Young people should not be strip-searched
by school officials. Period.

Rather than acknowledging the obvious, however, and admitting that
staff at a high school in the Quebec City area had gone too far,
Education Minister Yves Bolduc initially cited security concerns in an
attempt to justify the search.

He went on to claim that politicians have a duty to stand behind the
system's teachers and principals. What rubbish. Politicians need to
support what's right and speak out against abuses. No wonder the
public responded with outrage.

The case involves a teenage girl who was suspected by school officials
of selling drugs to other students. After she sent a text message to a
friend evidently joking about selling marijuana, she was questioned,
her locker was searched in vain, and she was sent to a closed-off room
and ordered to remove all her clothes, including her underwear, so the
garments could be examined for drugs.

It's absurd to cite security concerns in this situation. Making
matters worse, the girl's request to call her mother was reportedly
refused by school officials. Such mistreatment is inexcusable.

If there's worry that a student might pose a threat, for example, by
concealing a weapon on their person, police should be summoned. It
should never be up to school staff to strip them naked.

Searching a locker is obviously acceptable. It's school property. And
a case could be made for examining the contents of a student's purse
or turning out a pocket. But there's no reason to have any young
person subjected to the humiliating and intrusive process of being
strip-searched by school staff.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Matt