TEXAS CITY, Texas -- Some parents were up in arms Friday after 10 students were strip-searched for a missing $10 bill at an award-winning charter school in Texas.


The incident happened Thursday at Mainland Preparatory Academy near Texas City, The Galveston County Daily News reported.



Principal Wilma Green said seven girls and three boys -- ages 11 and 12 -- had been in study hall when they were told to strip to their underwear.

She said the boys were sent off with a male teacher and the girls with a female teacher for the searches.

Green said the disrobing was nothing different from what the children would have done for gym class.

She added none of the children objected because they wanted to prove their innocence.

But one boy's mother was so infuriated that she's filed a complaint with police and pulled her four children from the school.

source-channel six news

people are dumb... so a person saw their kids in their undies. WHO CARES! it's not like they hurt the kids, and it's not like the kid is scarred for life. The kids willingly got undressed, just like in gym. Arg... people should stop embarrasing themselves.

wow. only $10. amazing what people do for money.

It does seem a little extreme and highly inappropriate for just a $10 bill and they were only children.

3 words for the parents of these kids."Get Over It". Government Schools, Liberal Rules, The Not My Child Mentality, Elimination of the Possibility of Failure. You cannot use the excuse it was only $10.00, that $10.00 may have been the only money someone had for something very important. If you let the thief get away with only ten dollars what message are you giving to the young people," it is ok to steal if it is a small amount". Try that excuse in court and see if the judge buys it. Stealing is stealing no matter the amount stolen. If you steal a car it does not matter if the car is a Mercedes or a KIA, the punishment is the same.

Ohhh, so all of her kids can go without an education, that makes it all ok. People it is simple, we are raising a generation of wimps who are being lead to believe they can't do anything on their own. They now believe they require government intervention in their lives if they are to survive. The it is not my fault message is being taught to our children instead of the message of self reliance and intestinal fortitude. Failure as a lesson is being replaced by failure may scar the poor children. Pulling yourself up by your boot straps is fast becoming an antiquated ideal. What harm did this search do? In my view this search did no harm in fact if it happened like the story said I think some good came from it. Children are not the fragile flowers that some want to paint them as. If my child came home from school with a story about how he was asked to strip because someone's money was missing, and I found no improprieties had occured during the search, my response to my child would be "and your problem is?"

I don't know... I think if I had kids, I'd be pretty angry that my child would have had to disrobe like that. Asking them to empty their pockets, etc, is one thing, but down to their underwear? I remember when I was in gym class, I always got dressed and undressed as fast as I could because I was so self-conscious.

I think these teachers went a little too far.

If one guy told me to strip to me undies I would tell them to go **** themselves

Can children give consent to such a search? Surely the police and parents should have been called straight away, the sight of either may have prompted a confession (did they even find it?). Are teachers trained to give strip searches? Did they need any proof did they have to record the incident in full?.

exactly

Just my two cents worth.

In the U.S. we have a old piece of paper called the bill of rights. It has been many moons since I was in any form of civics class, but I do remember such items as "probable cause" "reasonable belief" and "warrantless searches" Oh and my favorite is one called "due process"

At best, this is petty theft. (The Student) at worst it is a violation of rights and threat of punishment for a minor infraction if said students failed to comply under the color of authority. (The School)


If the item had been a weapon, or other device that could be used to threaten the safety of others, then a blanket search would have been reasonable, if each student were advised of their right to refuse and have the search conducted in private.

For those who think the parents and students should 'get over it'. Put yourself in a situation where a few dollars comes up missing at your place of employment, and your boss wants to strip search you, with no more evidence than you were at work that day. How will you react?

It's all too easy to say it's no big deal when your sitting a few hundred or a couple of thousand miles away. But when people fail to speak out when their rights are violated, it makes it so much easier to take those rights away. The students have rights, the parents have rights. A stupid piece of paper called the dollar bill cannot and should not suspend those rights.

^^ Very well said! I very much agree with you.

Hey, I'd strip for free.

Yeah, thats me

This is stupid. Strip searching a child for a few bucks?
No evidence.
Treating them like terrorists at the airport.
*mutters about Police states*

How could the teachers tell the difference between the stolen bill and other 10 Dollar bills that they might have found on some other kids? Are the wise teachers ready to take the risk of wrongly accusing an 11 year old of theft and are they aware of the damage this might do to them? Are teachers qualified to do Police work? Do the teachers think that an 11 year old could pin the bill to his/her skin to justify a strip search?
I would have taken my kid immediately away from an incompetent and dangerous institution like that before they turn the child into a psycho!

They cant which is why I suspect the police werent called, because the police have to answer for there actions and would have had a go at the school for wasting time. The school seems to think they have to answer to no-one.

School children being stripped searched is just not right and going too far. Not only is it infringing on a persons space and privacy but humiliating too. If those children had been mine I would be furious.

I wanted to address a few comments made by twpdyp. While i generally agree with most of his comments, I feel that he might be a little off base on this one.

The incident happened Thursday at Mainland Preparatory Academy, this is a private school. Even so, it does not exclude them from due proccess.

We are raising a generation of people who are being stripped of their rights, and their abilities to question authority.

It seems to me we are teaching that it is your fault and you are guilty until proven innoocent. But I agree with the self relience and internal fortitude aspect. Out of ten students, according to the story, none protested the actions of the school authorities. All wanted to prove that they were innocent. I guess basic civics is not taught in school to sixth graders.

I don't expect everyone to agree with me, but I do expect Americans to start and think for themselves. If you don't stand up for yor rights, who will when they are taken away, because by then, there won't be any one left to speak for you.

The one point the story fails to mention is:
Did they find the ten dollar bill on any of the students?

stillcrazy
My comments are a generalization of the overall teachings in Government Schools. I should have read the article closer I failed to notice that the school in question was not a Government School.
My comment on Raising Wimps is meant to show that Government schools try and instill in our children a sense of "I can't do it alone". The curriculum does not provide for self reliance, self motivation or self discipline.
This link will explain better than I can how I feel and what my attitudes really are.
http://boortz.com/more/commencement.html
I really do relish these exchanges and also wish I had the talent to express myself better so that I would be better understood.