Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Uh, because it's wrong?

So about that little kid in North Cackalacky that was forced to strip down to his underwear and get frisked by his assistant principal:
Cox says she is not only upset about her son being searched but also that no one notified her about it. She said she found out about it from Justin when he came home from school that day upset.

"I was furious," she said.

Sampson County Schools spokeswoman Susan Warren says Cox should have been informed about the search but that Holmes did nothing wrong and that a male janitor was present for the search.

"The assistant principal was within her legal authority, her legal right, to do the search," Warren said. "She may have been overzealous in her actions."

Cox says that, with or without an apology, her son was violated.

"She came up to him and rubbed her fingers around inside of his underwear," Cox said. "If that isn't excessively intrusive, I don't know what is."
Wow, this sounds a little hinky. Was this a proper course of action?

I know! Let's run it through the Magic Swap-O-Tronic Moral Calibrating Comparator and find out!
Cox says he is not only upset about his daughter being searched but also that no one notified him about it. He said he found out about it from Jennifer when she came home from school that day upset.

"I was furious," he said.

Sampson County Schools spokesman Steven Warren says Cox should have been informed about the search but that Holmes did nothing wrong and that a female janitor was present for the search.

"The assistant principal was within his legal authority, his legal right, to do the search," Warren said. "He may have been overzealous in his actions."

Cox says that, with or without an apology, his daughter was violated.

"He came up to her and rubbed his fingers around inside of her underwear," Cox said. "If that isn't excessively intrusive, I don't know what is."
I think we can all agree that if the Assistant Principal in question had been a male, he'd have been sharing a cell with Jerry Sandusky, so yes, this action was wrong. Adults don't get to stick their fingers in the underwear of other people's children because it's creepy, period. Even if you have a Master's in Education and motives as pure as the driven snow.

36 comments:

Yrro said...

If you walked in on someone doing that to your child, and you beat them to a pulp, would anyone blame you?

Why does that suddenly change when the perp works for a school?

Jay G said...

Oh, yeah, that'd get my Buford Pusser on in a heartbeat...

Roscoe said...

"When she did not find the money on Justin, she said, she hugged him, apologized and talked to him about the importance of having a good reputation."

Creepiness and irony - there's a combination you don't see every day.

Robert Fowler said...

There was a similar case here in Iowa. Three girls were accused of stealing some money and got stripped to their undies and intrusively searched. Nothing found. The girls were in their teens (15/16).

The searcher no longer works for the school. There are lawsuits filed. If it had been my daughter, me and the principal that authorized it would be having a short little talk. He should have been fired too.

Anonymous said...

Try it in Shiner Texas and see what it gets you...

SewerDweller said...

Tree, Rope, Moron. Some assembly required.

Jayson said...

No way that principal makes it 48 hours without getting punched in the mouth by my mom.

Unknown.Rodent said...

The SCOTUS has already weighed in on this back in 2009. ( http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/25/AR2009062501690.html ) It would seem the school district is going to get an opportunity to write a large check.

Anonymous said...

"the school district is going to get an opportunity to write a large check"
i.e. the district taxpayers are going to write large checks ... is there no legal way to hold the individual horse's ass responsible for what she did?

mustanger said...

What do you want to insult the horses for?

Joseph said...

She's just mimicking what she's seen at the airport security line. If they can molest 4yo's, she ought to be able to molest children at school, right?

Anonymous said...

So, they strip-searched a third-grader because they THOUGHT he MIGHT have taken the whopping sum of $20.

Jebus...

It would be bad enough had they searched a teenager like this because they thought he had a gun, but to seach a grammar-school kid because they thought he snatched somebody's allowance???

Who the hell EVER thinks that this sort of a thing is a good idea????

Anonymous @ 9:58 AM, June 20 - the district taxpayers are going to write large checks

The sad thing is that you're right. The sadder thing is that they've already been writing large checks to keep this idiot employed for years.

Anonymous said...

Y'know, I try to be patient and understanding, and when I hear a caller on the local conservative post-Rush radio show advocating "grab your guns and head for the barricades" I remind myself that Americans do the "gunfire in the streets" thing extremely rarely and only with very great provocation, that the four boxes need to be taken in order, and we're a long, long, long, long way from needing the fourth box.

That said, when I hear about this sort of stuff, I'm inclined to disregard all prudence, grab a pile of loaded magazines and undertake A Very Educational Experience For Some People.

I do calm down in a few minutes, but I never forget the outrage. I am at a loss, however, as to how to convey that degree of outrage without use of those magazines.

There must be a way, but since I hear about this sort of #$@!# so often, whatever it is ain't working.

lelnet said...

Unknown.Rodent already pointed out that essentially the same case _did_ happen with the sexes reversed. The Supreme Court eventually ruled in favor of the kid, but as far as I know the school official was never in any danger of losing their job, let alone serving time in the penitentiary.

Broken Andy said...

It had not occurred to me that the public school system was the minor leagues for the TSA, but I see it now.

Robert said...

Do you have colorful nicknames for every state, or do you just pick on North Carolina?

Tam said...

Robert,

You have honestly never heard of the Tarheel State and the Palmetto State being referred to as North and South Cackalacky? Seriously?

Robert said...

Only from you, since I've seen several references previously. And I live there (here). Is it a Georgia thing? Just curious.

Drang said...

Robert: Folks I knew in the Army from North or South Cackalacky referred to their home states as North or South Cackalacky.

Brad K. said...

If you are going to let unions continue to organize, lobby for card check, etc., expect the stripping and groping to continue. In this case, the union rep just got ahead of the game, and forgot that contract-time negotiation tactics are figurative, sometimes, and not literal.

I say throw the unions out of schools, fire anyone left that ever submitted, attempted to submit, or proposed submitting a federal grant proposal/request.

I also propose that the school board call the wacko onto the carpet, and explain that if the board doesn't get re-elected, the likes of the wacko will be booted by the new grifters. "A new broom sweeps clean" is something pinheads need to keep in mind. And voters need to remember that they actually can replace dolts with dolt wannabes, 'cause sometimes the wannabe's grow up rather than being dolts. It could happen!

Anonymous said...

"is there no legal way to hold the individual horse's ass responsible for what she did?"

Qualified immunity for officials only exists as far as whether the Courts can give them the benfit of a doubt. The "Oops. Sorry. We didn't know." defense goes out the window when they should have known. Like when the Supreme Court has already ruled on the issue. The Courts look at State officials acting in their official capacity as slow and stupid, but not a complete eggplant.

Robert said...

Drang: I was in the service for 4 years. Never heard it uttered.

Stuart the Viking said...

"Any staff member who has ever worked with me knows that I care for my students and that even when I have to discipline them, I love them," she said.

I think that was the problem.

The first call the mother should have made was to the police reporting that her sun was molested at school. Maybe it was, the article didn't say, but it sure doesn't sound like it.

s

Rob said...

Teachers and principals don't get qualified immunity; that's reserved for the Only Ones. She's hosed.

Booda said...

Well written and great point

Anonymous said...

Wait; a person can have a master's in education AND motives as pure as the driven snow? I'll be looking at snow more carefully from now on. -- Lyle

TinCan Assassin said...

Why doesn't this person have her own stapler coming out of her head? I'm sure that is what I would do to anyone who touched my kid like that.

d said...

"And a male janitor was present for the search"

Okay, maybe this is an odd thing to point out but it just seems fucking weird that instead of like, a male SRO or even a school administrator that they just grabbed the dude that scrubs puke off the toilet and paints over gang graffiti. Fucking shady.

RabidAlien said...

I'm with "D", grabbing the janitor to supervise seems like a quick "here's $40, stand in the same office while I fondle some kid" ploy. There should have been two school officials (principal and vice-principal, or gym teacher in case the kid went buggy). I know of a father down here in Texas who could give some pointers on what to do if your daughter/son ever got touched in an inappropriate way...

Mikael said...

Tar.
Feathers.
Match.

Library-Gryffon said...

Yes, the taxpayers of the district ultimately foot the legal bills, but they were the ones who elected the board who appointed the superintendent who is in charge of hiring principals.

We're looking at some major bills here in my town; our current (hopefully soon-to-be-ex) superintendent is on adminstrative leave. There were enough flags, I have no idea why he was hired. We've had to settle one suit, related directly to his harassment of an employee, and I understand we've got at least one more in the works.

Unfortunately sometimes it takes hitting people where it hurts to get them to actually do something about problems in their schools. You have to start paying attention and attending your local BoE meetings. When the Board knows folks are paying attention it can have a significant effect. If only because most of them want to get re-elected.

9mm4545 said...

A really efficient totalitarian state would be one in which the all-powerful executive of political bosses and their army of managers control a population of slaves who do not have to be coerced, because they love their servitude. To make them love it is the task assigned, in present-day totalitarian states, to ministries of propaganda, newspaper editors and schoolteachers. - forward to Brave New World 1932 - Aldous Huxley

Any other questions?

Larry said...

I'm in North Cackalacky. Wonder if I could get on the jury...

nope. Wrong county.

Larry said...

(I've also heard it called North Cackalactus, but only by one person. A native North Cackalactinian, as it works out)

Justthisguy said...

In a parallel universe, in which I was 30 years younger, and married, with children, I would instruct my kid that turnabout is fair play in such a situation: That is, have your kid reciprocate by sticking his own hand down into the Principal's panties, raising his fingers to his nose, and saying something like, "Ooh, that smells awful! You are so old!"

Evyl Robot Michael said...

What's the big deal? The TSA does this all the time.