Parents Protest Police Search At School

Carrying signs reading “Keep Our Kids’ Clothes On” and “Our Kids Have Rights Too,” parents picketed at a middle school Monday to protest what they say was a strip search of 30 girls.

Police made door-to-door apologies to parents last week, saying two female officers went too far in their search of the 12- to-14-year-old girls after $30 in cash, compact discs and makeup turned up missing from a locker room.

Officers denied there was a full strip search, but acknowledged the girls were asked to loosen their clothing. The girls in the seventh- and eighth-grade gym classes maintained they were asked to drop their panties, lift their shirts and shake out their bras.

At least one parent of a girl who was searched has filed an intent to sue school officials and police. Several others were planning complaints.