AZ Teen Strip-Searched at School Wins a Partial Victory

Posted on 25 June 2009

Savana Redding won a partial victory of her Supreme Court appeal today.

The former middle-school student was strip-searched by school officials looking for ibuprofen pain medication in 2003 when she was an eighth grader at Safford Middle School. (about 127 miles from Tucson, Arizona)

“Savana’s subjective expectation of privacy against such a search is inherent in her account of it as embarrassing, frightening and humiliating,” wrote Justice David Souter for the majority, likely his last opinion before he steps down from the bench next week.”

She had no history of disciplinary problems, and no medication was found.

In a case testing the discretion of officials to ensure classroom safety, the justices concluded that the search was unreasonable but that individual school administrators could not be sued.

“During an investigation into pills found at the school, a student told the vice principal that Redding had given her prescription-strength 400-milligram ibuprofen pills.

The school had a near-zero-tolerance policy for all prescription and over-the-counter medication, including the ibuprofen, without prior written permission.

Redding was pulled from class by Vice Principal Kerry Wilson, escorted to an office and confronted with the evidence. The girl denied the accusations.

A search of Redding’s backpack found nothing. A strip search was conducted by Wilson’s assistant and a school nurse, both females.

Redding was ordered to strip to her underwear and to pull on the elastic of the underwear, so any hidden pills might fall out, according to court records. No drugs were found.”

“The strip search was the most humiliating experience I have ever had,” Redding said in an affidavit. “I held my head down so that they could not see that I was about to cry.

Click the link to see the original story Teen Strip-Searched at School Wins Partial Victory

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