ACLU Helps Expelled Student Sue School for Illegal Cell Phone Search
On the behalf of a North Mississippi middle school student, the ACLU and its Mississippi chapter have filed suit against Southaven Middle School, claiming that administrators wrongfully expelled the boy after illegally searching his cell phone.
According to Cellular-News, 12-year-old Richard Wade's cell phone was confiscated after he was caught reading a text message. But rather than giving him detention, the honor student's football coach searched through his personal information, including pictures he had taken of himself dancing in his bathroom. After interpreting those dance moves as gang signs (wrongfully, the plaintiff's lawyers say), the coach alerted the rest of the staff, as well as the authorities. The whole escapade resulted in suspension, a disciplinary hearing, and ultimately the expulsion of young Wade -- all founded on the coach's claim that the youngster was throwing gang signs in the illegally seized images.
Kristy Bennett, staff attorney with the ACLU of Mississippi, told Cellular-News, "The rights of students to be free from unreasonable search and seizure and to due process are not suspended when they walk through the schoolhouse door." Even further, Reginald T. Shuford, an attorney with the ACLU Racial Justice Program, added, "School officials and the police officer involved never pointed to anything that would suggest that pictures of Richard dancing were linked to a gang in any way."
Richard's mother wound up moving to nearby Memphis so that her son could remain in school, but the boy was -- ironically enough -- bullied and intimidated by student gang members. Finding herself with no choice but to uproot her family from the region altogether, Richard's mother moved them to Savannah, Georgia, where Richard is enrolled for the current school year. The ACLU seeks to have all related charges dropped from Richard's record -- be they academic, legal, or otherwise. If the ACLU's claims are in fact true, and we were in Richard's place -- humiliated, demonized and exiled from our homes -- we'd think a clean record would be letting the school board off easy. [From: Cellular-News, via Textually]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
John padrick murry said 7:13PM on 9-07-2009
Aclu would be the frist to sell out this country if we were invided by a army from another country.In other words a traitor.
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tnlin said 8:22PM on 9-03-2009
That is such a false statement. I doubt that you, like most rightwingers, even know what the ACLU is, what it stands for, or what it does. It is so sad that so many are so ignorant.
tennar said 2:29PM on 9-07-2009
Ever notice how conservatives love to throw the word "traitor" around at anyone who disagrees with them? They forget-- or more likely, hate-- the fact that this is a country that guarantees individual freedoms, including the freedom from unreasonable search and seizure. But those guarantees are what make American a great nation.
Unfortunately, a lot of conservatives would like to do away with all those freedoms, so they hate the ACLU for sticking up for individual rights.
fisheadnj said 10:35PM on 9-03-2009
I would like to pose this question to anyone out there, left or right. What good has the ACLU done for this country ? I really would like to know. It seems to me that their lawsuits are designed to set up our society for knee jerk reactive laws that diminish our security and social cohesion. If they really support civil liberties why have they never supported a Christian that has been subjected to religious intolerance? Or a conservative that has been wrongfully treated. Again if you have some examples that I can see I would really appreciate it. Are these people really concerned about preserving our civil liberties or are they communist/socialist dung mongers looking to ruin America through the courts?
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knicknac said 12:28AM on 9-04-2009
don't normally agree with ACLU on many thing, but on this they are right on the money. Schools seem to think they are little taliban camps where rights don't exist- strip searches for Tylenol (damn close to sexual assault in my opinion) and gross privacy violation like this.
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starchildlucy said 3:35PM on 9-07-2009
Absolutely agree on both counts - I also fail to agree with the ACLU frequently - but this time they are right on the money. How is it that the automatic assumption is that kids are not only doing something wrong, the are doing something illegal? This country seems to be taking out it's fears and insecurities on our children and rapidly turning us into a police state. Sure would like to check the coach out and see what skeleton's are in his closet.
amusedbyhypocrites said 3:27AM on 9-04-2009
To "Tnlin:How do you know that the first poster is a "rightwinger", you commie pinko leftwinger?
People who sling names at others whom they don't even know should realize that those who live by the sword....
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bjmillican said 8:08AM on 9-04-2009
I live in Mississippi and am dealing with there stupid schools with my child as of now in a similar situation I sure wish we could uproot and move . I feel for this family Bless them !
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Barc8921 said 2:12PM on 9-07-2009
Schools have gone beyond constitutional law in the goal to protect students. To check the kids cell phone is ridiculous. The teacher that took it should be personally sued also. My son had his car illegally searched once and unfortunately they found some empty beer bottles. Shame on him for having them but he was eventually dismissed from school. The ACLU, whom I usually despise, needs to take on this case and many others....
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nvraine said 3:03PM on 9-07-2009
Finally, the ACLU doing something i agree with. cool. Maybe they've changed .
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nvraine said 3:07PM on 9-07-2009
I find it very sad how divided Americans are, even when it comes to something so transparent as a violation of privacy.
What has happened to this great country of ours that is has become so important to argue about everything. Is it more important be right, or to be United?
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w1lke said 3:47PM on 9-07-2009
While I do not agree with everything the ACLU does, they are dedicated ot preserving our liberties as protected by the US Constitution.
How many of you stop as you exit WalMart so they can look at your receipt. I do not. It is my reciept and everything in the basket is my property. I do not give them permission to stop me or look through my property. If they proceed, they are violating my constitutional rights.
If everyone stands up for their rights instead of "giving in", these companies and government agencies would stop.
Tell your kids to lock their cell phones with a password that is not the phone number. That simple move would have protected this child. It would also make the phone useless to some that might steal it.
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DaMomb01 said 4:00PM on 9-07-2009
In most schools, cellphones are against the rules, and not allowed to be carried by kids throughout the school day. I'm not in agreement with the coach allegedly going through the child's messages etc, but the student should be punished for having, and reading/responding to text messages during school hours IF that is the case here. The coach should face some repurcussions for delving into matters he had no right to - other than confiscating the phone. My son got busted with his ONCE. First offense is confiscation, and it can only be retrieved by the parents...multiple offenses lead to greater punishments. Maybe this child has a history of abusing cell phone privileges during school, and the story is concocted to draw attention? Who knows?! Either way, he was in the wrong for using the cell phone in school.
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Marti said 7:31PM on 9-07-2009
DaMomb01:
I agree. The boy's phone should have been confiscated, but it should not have been searched unless some other reason warranted it. We never really know the whole story, though, do we? The media only feeds us bits and pieces that will cause a stir; the truth rarely gets out.
Ray:
Personally, I don't find anything wrong with the school taking away a cell phone if the parents and students have been warned that it is contraband. There are lots of things a student is not allowed to bring to school because it is either unsafe or it is an unecessary disruption -- cell phones aren't the only issue. If the school's policy is to withhold contraband until a parent comes to pick it up, and everyone is notified of this, there is nothing wrong with it.
I think it's a stretch to call it larceny. The school has a responsibilty to protect EVERY child's learning environment and removing disruptive objects is one way to do that. If a child can simply stop by the office and pick up their stuff, where is the lesson? What is the point? How will it stop? But... if mom and dad have to take time out because of their child's misbehavior and go to the school to pick up the phone, chances are they will (gasp!) get involved and make sure the problem doesn't continue.
Cell phones don't belong in the class room. Period. I can see how a parent would want a child to have a cell phone in case they need to contact them after school, but the class room is a learning environment and such disruptions should not be tolerated. Phones belong in a locker, not in class.
stugrant01 said 4:15PM on 9-07-2009
The school administrators and the coach are exibiting a type of bullying called "mobbing". It is when they need to get their narcissistic fix, and they do it as a group to feel like an important and intregal member of the group. They are actually more the ones showing ganglike behaviour. Left unchecked, like in PolPots Cambodia, these school officials would eventually be moralistically whipping people for not marching in straight enough line. They will always pretend "it is for the the good of the children" or some other indisputable good like hygeine or healthcare. The public good is really only a vehicle for them to express their egotistical sick compulsions.
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Tig said 4:17PM on 9-07-2009
Who are you, Archie Bunker?? If you want people to respect your opinion, cut out the name calling. It sounds like you are re-spewing whatever Rush or Beck told you to.
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James said 4:46PM on 9-07-2009
American Communist Lawyers Union. That is what it stands for.
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Summer said 4:44PM on 9-07-2009
wait, whats the turnip wagon?
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JEFF said 5:01PM on 9-07-2009
I dont think children should have cell phones at school ...... BUT if my child is caught using one at school I would be VERY offended to know that a school official or ANY stranger looked through it and would lobby for their employment being terminated !!!!! If they wanted to know what was in the phone they should've ask the childs parents and awaited their response
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snoozyqz said 6:02PM on 9-07-2009
Jeff, How many parents are going to punish their child for this? How many parents are going to look through the childs phone to even see or care what the child is doing? There are not enough responsible parents around, which makes for very irresponsible kids! I agree that the coach shouldn't have looked at everything in the phone, BUT I believe he had a right to see what was so important that the kid had to be texting in school! Didn't our teachers used to intercept our notes when we were passing them in school, "back then"? What's the difference? Intercepting notes and reading them or reading the text? All the same!!