House Approves Strip Search Bill

[IChing]

House Approves Strip Search Bill

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

A bill approved by the U.S. House yesterday would require school districts around the country to establish policies making it easier for teachers and school officials to conduct wide scale searches of students. These searches could take the form of pat-downs, bag searches, or strip searches depending on how administrators interpret the law.

The Student Teacher Safety Act of 2006 (HR 5295) would require any school receiving federal funding--essentially every public school--to adopt policies allowing teachers and school officials to conduct random, warrantless searches of every student, at any time, on the flimsiest of pretexts. Saying they suspect that one student might have drugs could give officials the authority to search every student in the building.

DPA supporters and others who opposed this outrageous bill called their members of Congress this week to express their disapproval. However, House leaders circumvented the usual legislative procedure to bring the bill to a quick vote. It did not pass through the committee process, but went straight to the House floor. There, it was passed by a simple voice vote, so constituents cannot even find out how their Representative voted
>>>>snip
Bill Piper, DPA's director of national affairs, said, "It looks like this bill was rushed to the House floor to help out the sponsor, Rep. Geoff Davis (R-KY/4th), who is in a tight re-election race. This vote lets him say he's getting things done in Washington. But I would be surprised to see a similar push in the Senate."

HR 5295 is opposed in its current form by several groups, including the Drug Policy Alliance, Students for Sensible Drug Policy, the ACLU, the American Federation of Teachers, the National Parent Teacher Association, the American Association of School Administrators, and the National School Boards Association.

http://www.drugpolicy.org/news/092006search.cfm

[niallmac]

1. We live in a Deemockrasee...

"...House leaders circumvented the usual legislative procedure to bring the bill to a quick vote. It did not pass through the committee process, but went straight to the House floor. There, it was passed by a simple voice vote, so constituents cannot even find out how their Representative voted."

[IChing]

2. Yes a dumbocracy

This law is against the 4th amendment but who cares?

[ThomCat]

4. The courts have never seemd to think

that kids have any rights. Only adults have rights. x(

[Dr.Phool]

7. Spreading Democrazy all over the land of the free.

[longship]

3. Just turn our schools into little Gitmos.

Might as well add waterboarding, too.

[zalinda]

5. All schools would have to do is strip search

a few repub politicos kids and watch the scream fest.

zalinda

[Caution]

8. Their kids are sent to private or charter schools

This is nothing more than another push to eliminate public education altogether. Make it more and more so well-off parents don't want to send their kids to public schools and the political clout will be in place to eliminate public education altogether (or make it so bad as to be completely worthless).

Preventing education enables things like: military recruitment, religious recruitment, voter ignorance, voter apathy, voting against one's own self-interest (why ANY poor person or minority of any kind (race, ethnicity, sexual preference, atheist) or woman would vote for the GOP can really only be explained by ignorance or self-loathing)) etc etc. It should come as no surprise that Republicans want to destroy public education.

[TexasLawyer]

6. another way to make public schools unattractive

and force Americans who can afford it into private schools.

[Caution]

9. Eye to eye on this one

This is the real reason behind it. Don't want the rich kids exposed to anything that might make them think and thus not continue to support the GOP.

[IChing]

12. Not totally but the bill kills two birds with one stone

The fourth amendment and public schools

[KansDem]

10. As a teacher in a former life, I resent this...

A bill approved by the U.S. House yesterday would require school districts around the country to establish policies making it easier for teachers and school officials to conduct wide scale searches of students. These searches could take the form of pat-downs, bag searches, or strip searches depending on how administrators interpret the law.

The role of the teacher is to teach, not act as security goons for the establishment. And this sentence perplexes me: "depending on how administrators interpret the law." So we will expect school administrators to "interpret the law?" How the hell is that supposed to work? Since when did we let anyone except the courts "interpret the law?"

[endarkenment]

11. The 'resource officers" will perform "student safety inspections".

And the sheeple will bleet in fear and agree to another outrage.

My wife and I were the two lone votes against putting cops in our schools to make the kids 'safe'.