Thong-Wearing Teens Kicked Out Of Dance

KGTV via Yahoo ^ | april 30 2002 | KGTV

[KneelBeforeZod]

Thong-Wearing Teens Kicked Out Of Dance

A group of parents are calling for the resignation of Rancho Bernardo High School's vice principal, claiming she enforced underwear checks at a school dance, 10News reported.

The dance occurred Friday and vice principal Rita Wilson turned away girls who were wearing thongs, the parent said.

Kim Teal is among the several parents angry with Wilson (pictured, right).

"First thing (my daughter) said when she got into the car was, 'Mom, it was horrible last night. You have to fight this,'" Teal told 10News.

According to parent Alane Garvik, girls who arrived at the dance wearing short skirts were immediately asked: "What kind of underwear do you have on?"

When Garvik's daughter red-facedly announced that she was wearing thong underwear she was told to "go home and put on appropriate underwear," according to Garvik.

Teal's daughter made it in and claims to have witnessed faculty lifting the skirts of girls to assure that the offending underwear was going nowhere near the dance floor.

"Well, I just saw ... a line of people and the vice principal, Mrs. Wilson, she was checking to see what the girls were wearing under their dresses. And she was literally lifting up their skirts and embarrassing them in front of everyone else," one student told 10News.

Parents and students have placed the blame on Wilson, for spearheading the thong underwear checks, even though there is nothing in the school dress code against them.

"It's not their right to know what kind of underwear these kids have," Garvik told 10News.

10News contacted school officials, who all declined to go on camera. But Principal Paul Gentle did say that he is "looking into the situation."

Parents are now asking for Wilson to resign.

Gentle said that even while enforcing the school dress code, it is not proper procedure to ask students what they are wearing underneath their clothes.

He told 10News that he plans to meet with parents sometime this week.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

I agree.

Gentle said that even while enforcing the school dress code, it is not proper procedure to ask students what they are wearing underneath their clothes.

It is also not proper for young ladies of this age to dress this way and gyrate on the dance floor while their dates grope them and simulate sexual acts.

I'm sure this involves only a smallish percentage of the girls there, but the ones wearing the thongs were wearing them for one reason only and it was not because it was the most comfortable choice of undergarment available to them.

[xzins]

With all that energy maybe you'll do something at work today besides sit at the screen and play on Free Republic, the internet's very best site.

[kjam22]

Somehow I get the feeling that this Vice Principle wasn't just doing this for no good reason. This seems like the sort of action that happens after events that have transpired at a previous dance.

[hobbes1]

There is a difference between teaching thought, and enforcement of appropriate social behavior. Were you out the day they taught critical thinking?

[steve-b]

And I firmly believe that as a local issue, community standards should prevail.

What "community" has as its "standard" procedure the employment of some pervert who checks everybody's underwear at the door? San Francisco?

[FreeTally]

Ok, am I the only one here wondering why they just didn't tell the girls their skirts had to be a certain length and forget about the underwear?

[hobbes1]

Are you asserting (hee hee) that Children have full Constitutional Protection under the Fourth ?

I am assuming youare making the idiotic assertion that the Fourth even applies to this instance in the first place. (here is a little hint...It applies to evidentiary circumstances...I.E. some reason for being adjudicated...)

[Hemingway's Ghost]

and exactly which part of the 4th Amendment do you not understand ?

Don't get all high & mighty on her yet, tomkat. The Supreme Court has routinely held that a school's interest in maintaining order and discipline sometimes trumps the student's 1st and 4th Amendment (and other)rights---black armbands during a VN protest in the '60s rings a bell. It's a balancing act, true, but generally speaking, the "individual" rights of students participating in school sponsored/school sanctioned events lose out if a school can make a compelling case that its action was necessary to ensure the proper order and discipline of the school or the event.

I believe this woman may have been a bit overzealous w/the actual, physical "thong check," but I believe she had every right to enforce a no-thong rule at a school dance. If the parents bring this action and it actually gets to a court, I'll bet a C-note right now w/anyone here that the school ultimately triumphs.

[WhiskeyPapa]

Amendment IV

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Well..........if I could check thong underwear on high school girls, I would risk a seizure.

KIDDING!

Walt

[xzins]

Absolutely...she knew there was a potential problem and she intervened. Hope someone stands on her side.

[hobbes1]

No. You are correct, that is not a statist point of view. and even a publik skool, has a duty to it's customers, and a legal obligation to those same customers (who in the end would be paying any judgement against the skool...) to enforce some standard of behavior so as not to be allowing gasoline to be thrown on the already raging fires of teenage hormones...

[Luis Gonzalez]

I take it that you're retired.

[Luis Gonzalez]

"...my kids are in Catholic school and i assure you, they would not be permitted to wear thong underwear to a dance!"

Mind if I check?

[logic101.net]

Sorry, I think Clinton got his application in first.

MARK A SITY
http://www.logic101.net/

[Wave Rider]

Big Bump - The Rump Dyke

[realpatriot71]

There might have been a better way to accomplish the check, but I like the basic precaution

What precaution is that?

[tomkat]

yes, even a dumb old bastard like me is familiar with in loco parentis.
however, i see absolutely no compelling state interest in this case.
i'll take that bet.

[general_re]

If the parents bring this action and it actually gets to a court, I'll bet a C-note right now w/anyone here that the school ultimately triumphs.

Trolling for suckers, eh? ;)

Hazelwood School Dist. v Kuhlmeier for the First Amendment and New Jersey v TLO for the Fourth - case closed. The schools are not subject to the same scrutiny as other government officials, nor do students in a school setting have the same expectation of privacy as in other settings, nor do they have the full First Amendment rights they would enjoy in another setting.

[realpatriot71]

[NittanyLion]

There is a difference between teaching thought, and enforcement of appropriate social behavior.

I'm speaking of a mentality that runs through the education system; namely, that teachers know better than parents what behaviors/ideologies need to be reinforced. While this particular example is social behavior, the thought process behind what you advocate is the same thought process involved in the teaching of political activism. It isn't a difficult concept.

Were you out the day they taught critical thinking?

That's the second cheap shot you've taken at me. Are you unable to differentiate between argument and ad hominem attacks, or do you seek to get a rise out of me?