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 ?

[pink-kittens]

im with Boo all the way here - my eldest long left school and my youngest is in yr 2 but neither (hopefully) will ever have to go through scanners before their day starts.

What on earth would constitute an emergency that the parent would have to call a mobile phone?
Why does any child need a mobile in school? There are still these wonderful little things called landlines that, rather strangely, you can call from a mobile should the absolute need arise to contact John or Janet at school

Mind you, when you have parents who object to a simple pat down, the job of any teacher is going to be a hard one

[jackthehat]

Really..............?!?

Really, really.........?!!?

This scores quite highly on the 'Triviality-o-meter'.............

[Sooper]

If i was a teacher i would just invest in one of the Mobile phone blockers , that would learn those pesky kids. I think they are illegal but hey ho!

[dotty.]

why is she not allowed a mobile phone? How bizarre, I don't understand the problem? Does the scholl have an exlusion policy on mobiles in class or in school in general

[daffy654]

I was thinking of something happening on the way to or from school (to the child), not whilst actually at school.
Believe it or not mobile phone use during lessons is not a big issue at the school my son attends.

As I said before, my son doesn't even own one so it isn't a problem I have to face. My girls never took their phones to school when they were of that age. My stepson did though as he has very unstable diabetes and on more than one occasion had cause to use it for summoning medical help.

[jackthehat]

It's the camera/video functions on most mobile 'phones that cause the concern. The 'happy slapping', bullying, inappropriate behaviour towards other pupils and staff were appearing with such disappointing frequency on-line and around other teenagers that many schools decided to ban mobiles from schools.

[jackthehat]

*were being spread around to other teenagers

[AlBags]

Don't some of you realise how much kids 'live by the phone'?
Thay would give anything than give their phones up .. and lose all that texting every day.
They are a nuisance and deter kids from learning properly at school!
I don't think some of you realise how liong kids really spend on them.
Ban them AT school .. or disable them electronically.

[ChuckFickens]

↑ agree.

They are at school to learn about Alexander the great, not Alexander the G8.

[AlBags]

lol ... (geez ... my spelling's bad tonite!)

[joko]

are you trying to suggest that the male officers got some sexual thrill at witnessing this? that they must be paedos because they watched...?

[AlBags]

I don't think Phil meant quite like that.

[ChuckFickens]

Actually... And sad as it is, I think they did.

Which is a totally ridicules notion.

[factor-fiction]

I wish we had a scanner at my school. Every lesson at least a third of the pupils in the class have their phones out and when challenged they hide them away, then get them out again .... and refuse point blank to hand them over or just deny they have one. The school rules prohibit them but in reality there is nothing we as teachers can do.

What kind of search was it- just checking bag/pockets or was it a much more personal body search?

[AlBags]

This is what I mean about 'living by the phone'
Texting addiction is what many of them have.
I was talking to one girl who reckoned she sent well over 200 texts a day .. and don't think most of them were outside school/college hours!

[factor-fiction]

When I report to parents about their child's constant use of mobile phones in lessons they often don't seem to believe me and think maybe i made a mistake, or they try to tell me their daughter/son doesn't take a phone to school. Then when the child gets home the child tells their mum they were just checking the time or using the phone as a calculator, so I then get a complaint from the parent about me being heavy handed. If only we could show parents a film of their child sending constant text messages to each other in lessons rather than listening/working.

[ChuckFickens]

I would be more comfortable if the parents/grandparents response to this was... "phones are banned in the school. they were just enforcing the rule, get used to rules!"

Rather than

"ZOMG! they patted down her pockets, that's close to the.... well you know, ZOMG they must be perverts!... Oh my... how can they degrade people like this"

One response is telling a child there are rules in society, The other is telling them they can do what they want without recourse....

I know which education I'd rather was given.

[sherrardk]

Factor 30 - you could film them on your phone? (joke) When I was teaching you could have about 15 confiscated phones on your desk by the end of a lesson. You were then supposed to put the phone (the correct one) in a envelope with the child's name on it and hand it in to the main office. Completely unworkable. So glad I am out of it all.