Become a fan of Slashdot on Facebook

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Privacy

Journal dh003i's Journal: Thong-Checker Ms. Wilson Illegally Violates Student's Rights 1

Journal by dh003i

Fact Summary:

  • In Rancho Bernardo High School (San Diego), at the previous year's MORP, a girl took off her thong and exposed herself while phreak dancing. Phreak dancing is a sexually explicit type of dance where a girl positions herself affront a guy and usually bumps and gyrates her ass into his crotch.

    At the next year's MORP, Rita Wilson -- a Vice Principal at RBHS -- decided to check to make sure guys were wearing underwear and girls weren't wearing thongs and had "protective underwear" on. She asked girls coming into the dance if they had thong underwear on and if they had bras on. If they said no, she made them lift their skirts/dresses or pull down their shirts to prove it. On one occasion, she forcibly pulled down a girl's tube-top shirt and pulled up her skirt.

    Ms. Wilson claims she modestly lifted skirts from the side and only to several girls. However, the students say she did this to around a hundred girls, and lifted their dresses/skirts up from the front over their heads. Wilson was aided by Natalie Johnson, a counsellor. Three employees and two police officers at the dance reported being too intimidated to confront Wilson; one employee who did confront her backed down when she became argumentative.

    Students told their parents about the incident, which angered them. Many parents -- angered by the privacy-violation and humiliation their children were subjected to -- mandated Wilson be fired. Some, seeing her actions as sexual assault, wanted her fired and prosecuted. Mrs. Wilson defended her actions, saying she was trying to protect the kids from exposure and possible assault. Led by Michael Ball, 35 teachers at RBHS supported Wilson. Wilson issued an apology for any distress she caused students, but did not apologize for her actions, nor admit they were wrong.

    The school board launched an investigation, during which Wilson was suspended. They interviewed various school officials and the two police officers present at the dance. They also interviewed several students who were violated, as well as several onlookers. They concluded that Wilson used "extremely poor judgement," violating state law and school district policy, which prohibits her from "removing or rearranging [a student's] clothing for a visual inspection of underclothing, breasts, buttocks, or genitalia." They were less severe with Johnson, as she she was following Wilson's orders, but still said she used poor judgement.

    The school board then decided Wilson's punishment. Only 19 people were allowed to address the board, and of those 8 spoke out against Ms. Wilson. Of thos 19 only one, Ashley Wydra, was a girl who was at the dance. She accused Wilson of lying about how many girls were subjected to the thong-check, saying Wilson checked around a hundred students.

    The board voted unanimously to demote Wilson to a teaching position, not fire her. Due to tenure -- which guarantees Wilson a teaching position until retirement -- the school district was fearful to fire her, for the cost of a wrongful termination suit, even though she violated the district's search and seizure policy, as well as state law. Disappointed parents said they may pursue legal action to have Ms. Wilson fired and possibly criminal action.

Confirmed Victims:

  • Rebecca Teal
    Ms. Chappel
    Ashley Wydra
    Ms. Garvik
    Stephanie Stewart
    Ms. Stech
    Stephanie Olson
    others have refused to be named or have not stepped forward

Quotes:

  • "Everyone is...appalled and devastated. They definitely crossed any line of decency." -- Kim Teal

    "I...saw...a line of people and...she [Wilson] was checking to see what the girls were wearing under their dresses...she was literally lifting up their skirts and embarrassing them in front of everyone else." -- Ms. Teal

    "I'm not taking anything off the table. I don't feel it's a good idea to stick her in charge of 25-plus students in any fashion. Teachers are the ones shaping our kids, and to put her in that position - that's not a demotion, that's a much more important position." -- Kim Teal

    "To me, that is sexual assault. You don't do that to anybody, but especially not to kids. These kids are depending on the administrators to protect them." -- Jim Teal

    "It was a violation of these kids' privacy, and very embarrassing for kids at that age" -- Cindy Chappell

    "I felt embarrassed because there were about 50 people standing around. I didn't think I had done anything wrong." -- Ms. Chappel

    "I can't believe you just lied to everyone. How can you live with yourself." -- Ashley Wydra to Wilson, in regards to Wilson lying about the number of students she violated

    "You stay away from my little sister." -- Ashly Wydra to Wilson

    "She needs to be fired. That's the only acceptable consequence. These people...need to be classified as sex offenders." -- Alane Garvik

    "I felt like they were really touching a private area. I didn't think they had a right to know that stuff." -- Ms. Garvik

    "We were in front of the entire class, school officials were around, and even two on-campus cops." -- Stephanie Steward

    "They just lifted the skirt over my head. I didn't know what was going on." -- Stephanie Olson

    "It plainly violates the privacy rights of girls and boys subjected to the searches" -- Jordan Budd, ACLU lawyer

    "It's really quite astounding that a school administrator would believe it to be appropriate to require every girl who attended a dance to partially disrobe in public on the off chance one might subsequently engage in misconduct." -- Jordan Budd, ACLU lawyer

    "I just thought, Ohmigod, what is she doing? This is totally out of line." -- Greg Bisesto, San Diego city police officer

Discussion

  • One wonders what Wilson was thinking, and what one has to do to get fired now-a-days. Wilson violated the privacy rights of about a hundred students, sexually assault a few, and violated the CA Educational Code, yet she still hasn't been fired. Oh wait, I forgot: zero tolerance only applies to students.

    Lets take a look at the laws Ms. Wilson violated.

    1. Indecent Exposure. Ms. Wilson's actions violated California's Indecent Exposure laws. By coercing them through her position of authority to lift their skirts of pull down their shirts, Wilson caused the indecent exposure of many students. This constitutes multiple offenses of indecent exposure, and would constitute multiple convictions, meaning a felony conviction according to CA Penal Code 314.
    2. Battery. Ms. Wilson's actions violated California's Battery laws. On the occasion(s) where she forcibly lifted girls' skirts or pulled down their shirts, she is guilty of battery (CA Penal Code 242) on school grounds, punishable by a fine less than or equal to $2,000 and/or a jail-term less than or equal to 1 year [CA Penal Code 243.2. (a)(1)].
    3. Sexual Battery. In cases where Ms. Wilson's hands were touching the teenager's groins or breasts through their clothing (as must have happened when she pulled down one girl's tube-top), she was guilty of sexual battery, punishable by a fine of less than or equal to $2,000 and/or a jail-term less than or equal to 1 year [CA Penal Code 243.4 (a), (e), and (f)(1)].
    4. Illegal Search. As Wilson rearranged the clothing of students to permit a visual inspection of the underclothing, she conducted an illegal search, in violation of California's education code. [CA Educational Code 49050 (a)]. .

    So, by all accounts, Ms. Wilson should certainly be fired, as she has violated both the CA Educational and Penal Codes. Given the seriousness of the situation -- that she violated the rights of the student's whom she was supposed to protect -- she should also be in jail for at least 1 year, assuming all sentences are served concurrently. She certainly should not be anywhere near kids. The "punishment" given to her by the school board -- demoting her to a teaching position -- is in fact a punishment to the students, as it will put her in closer contact with them. She claims she was acting to "protect" the students and looking out for their best interests, preventing them from indecently exposing themselves and being sexually battered. This is absurd. You can't protect someone from indecent exposure and battery by forcing them to indecently expose themselves (via your authority position) and committing battery against them; that like preventing the mafia from murdering someone by murdering that person yourself. Furthermore, it is obvious that her actions had a detrimental, not positive, affect. Thus, her "ends justifies the means" argument falls further on its face.

    Wilson's also claims that she had no other way to stop "phreak" dancing and the kind of indecent exposure that went on the previous year. Firstly, you can't prevent indecent exposure by causing it. Secondly, she had other alternatives:

    1. Cancel the dance.
    2. Stop the dance if anyone phreaks.
    3. Split the dance up among several nights to make it more manageable.
    4. Stop the music or play country music if anyone freak dances or indecently exposes themselves. This has been proven to work. One DJ calmed down a high-school dance by playing the Barney theme song.
    5. Discipline those who freak dance, and remove them from the dance.
    6. Have the officer present at the dance arrest anyone who indecently exposes themselves.
    7. Any combination of the above and other legal methods which don't violate students' rights.

    Wilson had all of these options and more. It only took me a few seconds to come up with these. Wilson had months to figure out how to handle the dance, so she has no excuse. Yet, there are those who defend Wilson, using various absurd arguments. I will post the the defenses of Wilson's actions in italics and my responses in plain test.

    1. Maybe what she did was wrong, but she's a good person, so we shouldn't punish her. Absurd. We are not judging, nor are we capable of judging, whether or not Wilson is a "good person". What we are capable of judging is whether her individual acts in this matter were legal or illegal. A "good person" who commits illegal acts should still be punished, whether (s)he's a teacher, a businessman, a police officer, the Pope, or Mother Teresa. Also note that the people who make this argument -- those close to Wilson -- are the very people least capable of fairly judging her actions, as they are partial to Wilson.
    2. She was only doing the job that parents should have been doing. Parents should be grateful she was preventing their children from acting like wanton little sluts. Firstly, this is irrelevant. Whether or not parents should be happy is not the point: Wilson's actions are still illegal and wrong. Secondly, checking children's underclothing is the right of their parents, not anyone else. Simply because parents choose not to excercise that right does not give a stranger such as Wilson the right to do such. Thirdly, Wilson's actions did not in any way prevent promiscuous activity, nor exhibitionist activity, nor phreaking, nor indecent exposure, assault, or battery. Her actions were in fact all of these things.
    3. Wilson was doing the only thing she could to prevent a reoccurence of the previous year's indecent exposure. Again, this is absurd: you cannot prevent indecent exposure and battery by committing that very same act. Furthermore, this is wrongly implying that Wilson was in a catch-22: that had the obligation to protect students from indecent exposure and battery, but that the only way to do such was by this thong-check. As I've shown, that is clearly not true: Wilson had other options which would have been effective. Also note that the action Wilson chose in no way prevented anything: phreaking is just as easy with cover-all undewear as with thongs; cover-all underwear come off just as easily.
    4. If what she did was so illegal, how come she hasn't been fired and put in jail? If what OJ Simpson did was so illegal, how come he isn't in jail? This is an is/ought fallacy: "because Wilson isn't in jail now for her actions, she shouldn't be in jail for her actions." Not every crime is punished as it should be; however, that does not mean it is legal. If you think what Ms. Wilson did was legal, try doing it to a female police officer and see where it lands you -- in jail, that's where. Furthermore, the families of the victim's may very well sue the school to get her fired, and demand the DA prosecute her.

    As a closing remark, I'd like to say that Wilson is not the only one at fault here, though she is of the gravest fault. Johnson's actions were also inexecusable, and she should be facing the same consequences and jail-sentence that Wilson should be facing the same consequences: she was a counsellor and should have known better. Likewise, the police officers present were at fault: when they saw what was going on, they should have stopped Wilson and arrested her. The other teachers and school officials at the dance were also at fault: they should have stopped Wilson. Finally, the 35 teachers who support Ms. Wilson are at fault, as they're supporting actions which are illegal and violated the rights of students: neither Ms. Wilson, nor Ms. Johnson, nor any of the 35 teachers supporting them, should be anywhere near kids.

    In short, aside from their parents, it's none of anyone's business -- certainly not Wilson's -- what type of underclothing students are wearing. She had no right to violate their privacy as she did.

Links:

Miscellaneous

  • Let the culprits know what you think! Here's the e-mail addresses of Ms. Wilson and Ms. Johnson, and their supporters, including Michael Ball and Tim Steigerwald. The list of Wilson supporters is obvioulsy not complete (there were 35 teachers who supported her). I'll be working on getting that complete list. supporters.

    IMPORTANT NOTICE: The San Diego County Office of Education DENIES permission to use our email addresses for SPAM, chain letters, or any other unsolicited purpose. To do so is illegal and steps will be taken to prosecute offenders. So please ask the appropriate San Diego RBHS official for persmission to e-mail these school officials with your opinion on their disgraceful action.

This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Thong-Checker Ms. Wilson Illegally Violates Student's Rights More

Thong-Checker Ms. Wilson Illegally Violates Student's Rights

Comments Filter:

Slashdot Top Deals

An Ada exception is when a routine gets in trouble and says 'Beam me up, Scotty'.

Close