Has Anyone Seen the Constitution Lately?

I am so irritated right now. The Supreme Court will be hearing a case today on whether or not a school had the right to strip search a 13 year old girl for the allegation that she had possession of acetaminophen (Tylenol) and was handing it out to other students.

Supposedly, "someone" saw her handing out said acetaminophen, so the administrator pulled her out of class and searched her backpack. Then, because they didn't find anything, he enlisted the aid of the school nurse and his female assistant to strip this child down to her panties. They still found nothing.

The school says they didn't need a search warrant because they had probable cause. The school board has been the party to keep the appeals going on this. They are absolutely convinced they have the right to do whatever they want, whenever they want even though the courts have ruled in favor of the child several times.

Reminds me of a situation in our town a few years back. A teacher accused 3 girls of taking $20 out of her purse when she was out of the room. This teacher had the 3 girls strip searched to find the money. They didn't have it. An expanded search found the $20 in the teacher's desk drawer. The school supported the teacher's decision to search the girls. The parents were not informed, nor would they allow the girls to call them, until afterward. I believe this settled out of court, but the school tried to keep it very hush-hush.

I am afraid that I would just have to get up in someone's face if that happened to one of my kids.

There have been many, many cases of school boards violating the Constitutional Rights of students, all in the name of "safety" or "zero tolerance drug policies". There have even been cases of schools expelling students for violating school policy after school hours and not on school property. And Free Speech anywhere on campus is simply a joke.

It would appear that the schools do not feel that our children have any Constitutional Rights until after they have graduated. Not when they turn 18, but when they graduate. And it just sets my poor School Newspaper Co-editor daughter to gnashing her teeth. It just makes her teeth hurt to have to submit her editorials to the principal, not the staff adviser, the Principal, before it can be published. They have to send the entire paper to the office for approval before it can go to the printers. And if he cuts a story, they can't print the edition without a complete change of layout. They have only been able to print 3 editions of the school paper all year because of story cuts.

It is getting to the point where home school is the only place children can actually learn what the Constitution means to the individual, not just to the government.