January 30, 2009
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/connecticut/ny-bc-ct--stripsearches0130jan30,0,7138990.story
SHELTON, Conn. - Shelton police and state prosecutors say no crime was committed when teachers at the Pine Academy school strip-searched four students last month.
Shelton police say they have finished their investigation.
A lawyer for the four teenage students, Robert Berke, says he won't challenge the police findings, but he plans to file a lawsuit alleging unreasonable searches.
Berke says school Principal Patricia Nicolari ordered the searches on Dec. 2 after a teacher reported $70 missing. He says two male teachers searched the students, making them strip down to their underwear, but the missing cash wasn't found.
The principal and the two teachers were placed on administrative leave after the incident. It's not clear whether they're back on the job.
Showing posts with label Strip Searches. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Strip Searches. Show all posts
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
IL: Two more lawsuits allege stripsearches at Chicago Public Schools
Incidents occurred at Perspectives Charter Calumet Middle School and Fenger Academy High School, complaints say
By Ted Gregory Tribune reporter
January 25, 2009
Two weeks after the Chicago Public Schools were hit with lawsuits alleging inappropriate searches of students, two more families have filed complaints of similar misconduct.
The lawsuits said that an 8th-grade girl at Perspectives Charter Calumet Middle School, 8131 S. May St., and a junior male student at Fenger Academy High School, 11220 S. Wallace St., were strip-searched last year.
"I was very furious," said the 16-year-old Fenger student. The boy said he was taken into a back room near the main office after he arrived late for school on Oct. 9 and was told that school officials suspected he had been selling drugs.
A school disciplinary officer told the student to pull down his pants and underpants, said the boy and his attorney, James Fennerty. The student was not asked to remove his T-shirt.
No drugs were found.
"I felt that they did it for no real reason," the student said Saturday. "I never had a record of selling drugs. I could see if I had gotten into trouble before, but I had never gotten into trouble."
The Perspectives search allegedly occurred Dec. 20 when the girl was among several pulled from a school assembly, told she was suspected of concealing a razor blade and taken into a bathroom, said Fennerty, who filed the complaints Friday. There, she was told to pull down her pants and take off the shirts over her bra, Fennerty said.
A uniformed woman—the girl is unsure whether she was a Chicago police officer or a school security guard—then grabbed and "jiggled" the girl's bra, Fennerty said. She was not asked to remove her underpants, he added. No razor blade was found.
The school district is "finishing up our investigation of the Perspectives allegations," Chicago Public Schools spokesman Michael Vaughn said Saturday. "The Fenger investigation is completed, and a decision on discipline is pending."
He declined to elaborate.
tgregory@tribune.com
By Ted Gregory Tribune reporter
January 25, 2009
Two weeks after the Chicago Public Schools were hit with lawsuits alleging inappropriate searches of students, two more families have filed complaints of similar misconduct.
The lawsuits said that an 8th-grade girl at Perspectives Charter Calumet Middle School, 8131 S. May St., and a junior male student at Fenger Academy High School, 11220 S. Wallace St., were strip-searched last year.
"I was very furious," said the 16-year-old Fenger student. The boy said he was taken into a back room near the main office after he arrived late for school on Oct. 9 and was told that school officials suspected he had been selling drugs.
A school disciplinary officer told the student to pull down his pants and underpants, said the boy and his attorney, James Fennerty. The student was not asked to remove his T-shirt.
No drugs were found.
"I felt that they did it for no real reason," the student said Saturday. "I never had a record of selling drugs. I could see if I had gotten into trouble before, but I had never gotten into trouble."
The Perspectives search allegedly occurred Dec. 20 when the girl was among several pulled from a school assembly, told she was suspected of concealing a razor blade and taken into a bathroom, said Fennerty, who filed the complaints Friday. There, she was told to pull down her pants and take off the shirts over her bra, Fennerty said.
A uniformed woman—the girl is unsure whether she was a Chicago police officer or a school security guard—then grabbed and "jiggled" the girl's bra, Fennerty said. She was not asked to remove her underpants, he added. No razor blade was found.
The school district is "finishing up our investigation of the Perspectives allegations," Chicago Public Schools spokesman Michael Vaughn said Saturday. "The Fenger investigation is completed, and a decision on discipline is pending."
He declined to elaborate.
tgregory@tribune.com
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