School strip searches

Even though student molestations seem to be reaching epidemic proportions in schools across America, the House of Representatives has approved a tough new anti-drug and anti-weapon law that would require local districts to develop search policies – including strip searches – with immunity against prosecution for teachers and staff.

Schools would have to develop policies for searching students, or face the loss of some federal funding, under the bill – HR 5295, approved by a voice vote Tuesday. It moves to the Senate, which does not have similar legislation pending at this time.

The American Civil Liberties Union, the American Federation of Teachers, the Drug Policy Alliance, Students for Sensible Drug Policy, the National Parent Teacher Association, the American Association of School Administrators and the National School Boards Association all opposed the bill saying it could invite unconstitutional searches. The National Education Association supports the legislation, according to the sponsor.

The bill was the brainchild of Rep. Geoff Davis, R-Kentucky, who said the idea was to "put a process in place so that the teachers don't have any fear of liability, but at the same time it protects the rights of the students from an unreasonable search."

The bill says only that search methods cannot be "excessively intrusive."

Joseph Farah

Thank God for the Republicans. I'll bet we're all glad they dropped that small government nonsense in favor of police-state tactics to protect us from this latest scourge of rampaging high school students. We should all be equally thankful that they are now carrying the legislative torch for the NEA. In actuality, Representative Davis should have called his bill, "The Ephebophile Protection Act of 2006."