I believed Grady High School fostered a comforting, safe environment. There have been a few dull classes, and a couple of times when the students’ “well-beings” were at stake, but otherwise Grady has been an adequate, and occasionally thrilling, school.
Even though teachers check our bags for illegal paraphernalia every morning, I never suspected that I would be personally targeted for a random search. I figured, however, that I had never done anything deplorable enough to warrant an actual search. But, after coming in late one morning, with a note signed by my mother, I was swept into Mr. Howard’s office, and I watched as he rifled through all my belongings.
Their reason for the search? I looked “nervous.” The school resource officers said they believed I was on drugs. The officers and Howard informed me that the searches were “standard procedure,” but I had never heard of anyone being searched because he or she struck the disciplinarians as apprehensive.
I was shaken. I had been sick all week and I came to school in a pair of “inappropriate” leggings, so I had to change. Maybe I appeared stressed. If that is their reasonable suspicion, then why don’t I see them searching every student who is about to take a calculus test?
While Howard fingered my belongings he asked me if “this made me feel guilty.” I was taken aback. It seemed like he was trying to intimidate me into confessing to something of which I was definitely not guilty. I told him that no, I did not feel guilty because I hadn’t done anything. I guess I was pretty upset at this point, because tears streamed down my face and I was having trouble forming coherent sentences.
Having completed their search without (shockingly!) finding any contraband, Howard finally called my mother and told her what happened while resource officers grilled me about my home life.
“Did something happen at home? Did you and your parents get into a fight?”
“No.”
“Then why are you so upset?”
It didn’t occur to them that I may be upset because I was accused of being under the influence and having my rights violated right in front of me.
They sent me to the next room when another resource officer came out to talk to me. He said that there was no reason to be upset because I was in “the safest place I could be.”
I can now remark on the irony of that comment. One of the most frightening moments of my life was the result of the Grady administration trying to keep its students safe. It reminds me of the NSA scandal. After it was exposed that the National Security Agency had been spying on American citizens, we were all outraged, and “safety” was the NSA’s excuse to violate rights which are enumerated by our Constitution. The government shouldn’t be allowed to simply decide whose rights to infringe, whether they are a security organization or a public high school.
