Child being searched at school

[philkool]

Is it against the law for a girl of 15 to be searched by a female teacher in front of male pupils and 2 male teachers,
apparently looking for mobile phones which are banned at school ?

[DTCwordfan]

Al Bags has a very credible point here. What instigated the search from the "detective" - suspicion or the fact that the bleeper went off on the scanner. If the latter, they had every right to do a pat down - and its not as if we are talking invasion of "privacy" from a personal intimate perspective.

Mountain out of a molehill here I think.......

[Buenchico]

It's perfectly legal and,indeed, in line with Government policy:

Relevant links:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10528023
and
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-12365292

[brenda]

Agree with Dt -- a lot of fuss about nowt. It was a pat down by a female teacher on a female student , not a get your kit off and stand their starkers.A pat down is not in the same league as a true search .

[B00]

what a kerfuffle over nowt!

all this because children now believe (and they're probably right) that they have every right of every law on their side, no matter what the little darlings may get up to. God forbid we upset their delicate sensibilities by doing a 20 second pat down infront of witnesses, my god, they must have died of embarrassment....

Oh please, lol.

[daffy654]

Seems a little over the top to pat someone down on suspicion of having a mobile phone on their person. If they suspected drugs or weapons it would be a completely different matter.

[B00]

We dont know how rife the problem of children using phones throughout the lessons are though do we Daffs? Maybe just asking them if they have phones on them isn't working?

[daffy654]

I suppose so B00.
My son's school has nothing like this in place and has very few discipline problems so I am always a little shocked when I read that there is even a need for airport scanners in schools.

[B00]

aye me too to be honest Daffs, hope its not a sign of the times!

Mind you, if a child isn't allowed phones at school, and I agree- no need for them at all, why let your child take one with them each day? So we can partially blame the parents for this???

[pink-kittens]

anyone would think they girl had been naked! A lot of fuss about nothing

I thank God I don't live in an area where my child has to go through a scanner before the school day starts :(

[B00]

Same here Pinki, though it's been a while since my eldest was at high school, as far as im aware it still hasn't got to the stage where anything like that is a necessity.

I still say that sending kids to school with a mobile phone is asking for trouble. Why do they even need to take one with them? Take it from them in the mornings before they go to school= problem solved!

[chrissa1]

Daffy, how on earth are you going to find a hidden mobile phone without using a "pat down"? If this was the 80's when phones were like bricks then one could be detected easily. Not so now.
I've read these threads with my mouth getting wider and wider. Like other posters, what's the problem?

[daffy654]

My 13 year old son doesn't even own a mobile phone, he has no interest whatsoever in having one so it isn't a problem i'm likely to face anytime soon.

If any child at my son's school is caught using a mobile phone in class it is confiscated and can only be returned to a parent or guardian of the child. They are allowed phones in school but they must be switched off during lessons.

[B00]

I can still see that open to abuse to be honest though Daffs. Turned off during lessons? yeah right, they'll all be texting like mad, i bet you!

Make them leave them at all- remove the temptation completely.

[4getmenot]

my class had bags looked through for missing school t-shirts, then i found out they were just saying that to check mine as my bro had nicked them from school the night before

[daffy654]

Of course there will be the odd kid who disobeys the rules B00, thats what teenagers do best. lol
In the case of my son's school it is necessary for some of the kids to have their phones on them as we live in a rural area where some of the pupils have to travel quite a distance from home to school. In an emergency they would really struggle to be able to contact anyone any other way. There is one public phone box in our village and 90% of the time it is in a non-working condition.

[chrissa1]

4getmenot, I love the way you pop into threads with really "pointed" comments then pop out again. When I saw your name in Latest Posts just now I thought, "oh great, what's 4get going to say now". Love it.

[mrs.chappie]

One of the down-sides to having all this new technology available, I suppose.

[B00]

Still say the banning of phones is the way forward in schools.

I appreciate what you're saying Daffy, but what sort of emergency would necessate a mobile phone to and fro from school? No matter how close or far you lived? Or even how rural?