AlexTheGreat
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http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2009/04/18/20090418scotus-stripsearch18-ON.html
Short version
Short version
8th-grader's strip search case reaches Supreme Court
SAFFORD - When Savana Redding, now 19, talks of what happened to her in eighth grade, it is clear that the painful memories linger.
She speaks of being embarrassed and fearful, and of staying away from school for two months. And she recalls the "whispers" and "stares" from others in this small eastern Arizona mining town after she was strip searched in the nurse's office because a vice principal suspected she might be hiding an extra-strength ibuprofen in her underwear.
Savana was an honors student, shy and "nerdy," she says, when the eighth grade began.
She first learned she was in trouble when Kerry Wilson, the vice principal, came into a math class one morning and told her to come with him to the office.
He was in search of white pills.
Wilson knew a boy had gotten sick from pills he obtained at school. And that morning, another eighth grader, Marissa Glines, was found with what turned out to be several ibuprofen 400 pills tucked into a folded school planner. A few days before, Savana had lent Marissa the folder. The vice principal also found a small knife, a cigarette and a lighter in the folder. When asked where she got the pills, Marissa named Savana Redding.
These "could only be obtained with a prescription," Wilson reported.
Commonly used for headaches or to relieve pain from menstrual cramps, ibuprofen is marketed under brand names including Advil and Motrin with recommend doses of 200 to 400 mg.
"District policy J-3050 strictly prohibits the nonmedical use or possession of any drug on campus," he explained later in a sworn statement.
Savana said she knew nothing of the pills in the folder.
"He asked if he could search my backpack. I said, Sure,' " she recalled. When nothing was found, Wilson sent Savana to the nurse's office where the nurse and an office assistant were told to "search her clothes" for the missing pills.
Savana said she kept her head down, embarrassed and afraid she would cry. After removing her pink T-shirt and black stretch pants, she was told to pull her underwear to the side and to shake to see if any pills could be dislodged.
It was "the most humiliating experience (of her life)," she said.
"We did not find any pills during our search of Savana," Wilson reported.