Shock, outrage only reasonable response in Suring

When attorneys invade a situation, it’s harder to say I’m sorry, so I guess I understand why the Suring Area School District has been so silent on the subject of strip-searching students.

On the other hand, whoever is advising the Suring Area School District surely has advised them that, at the very minimum, an apology is in order. For now, the district’s attorneys seem to be suggesting that officials exercise their right to remain silent.

At issue is an incident that occurred Jan. 18 at the school after several students were caught vaping in the girls’ room. Oconto County District Attorney Ed Burke says six girls were told to strip to their underwear, apparently to ensure that they didn’t have more vaping devices or cartridges secreted on their persons.

Burke concluded that the incident did not amount to a “strip search” under the letter of the law, so no one at the school will be criminally charged. Angry parents have, however, hired an attorney to explore the option of a civil lawsuit.

I am not the first to say this: Maybe it was not a strip search as defined by the statute, but what else would you call it? The officials’ behavior has been declared legal, but was it moral? Was it even reasonable, as in the constitutional prohibition on unreasonable search and seizures?

Strip down to your underwear because you vaped? As a product of the generation where the answer to excessive smoking in the boys’ room was to create a student smoking area, I am baffled that the issue of tobacco use has risen to the level of such an extreme response. Is using tobacco on school grounds really that serious an offense?

Let’s take the emotion out of this discussion, shall we? Oh, never mind; it’s impossible to listen to what happened to those girls without getting emotional.

Like many people — I dare say most people — my first reaction when I heard about these searches was shock and outrage, and it only gets worse the more I hear and think about it.

Heads must roll. Whoever suggested, conducted or dares to condone these searches needs to be gone. I’ve seen more than one parent say those people should never be allowed to darken the door of a school building again. I can’t say I disagree, although no one from the school district has offered an explanation or justification — see the reference to legal advice, above.

Young women have a right to feel safe on school property, especially in the presence of the school’s administrators. What happened to these young women is a violation of that trust, plain and simple.

The school board president told local media that the board plans to meet at 5:30 p.m. March 2 to address the matter, although as of the beginning of this week no notice of such a meeting had been posted. I suspect that half the town — probably more — will be at the school to see what they have to say for themselves. It promises to be an interesting evening.

Warren Bluhm is the editor-in-chief for NEW Media. Readers can contact him at wbluhm@newmedia-wi.com.