Recording captures Attala County school officials admitting strip search of teen students might not have been legal
By Leonardo Bevilacqua | Originally published by Mississippi Today
Arma Cooper got an apology from school officials responsible for the strip search of her son. But she didn’t get accountability.
LeRoy Wise, the school resource officer who allegedly inspected her son’s genitals, said in a recording submitted in a court case that the search might not have been legal. Mississippi Today could not confirm his employment status with the district. Dietrich Harmon, the McAdams High School principal who oversaw the searches, still leads the school.
“They were hoping it could be swept under the rug,” said Cooper, who has since pulled her son from McAdams High School.
Cooper recorded a meeting she and her son had on Feb. 11, the day after the searches, with Wise, Harmon and coach Kenyon Ross. The recording, filed Wednesday with the Attala County circuit court, captures a school official’s apology and a school resource officer’s admission of potential wrongdoing in wake of the searches. Cooper authenticated the recording under oath.
The recording is the latest piece of evidence in a case Cooper and six other parents brought against the Attala County School District after they said their sons were strip-searched at the high school in February.
The teenage boys were escorted out of a restroom when a vape detector went off. The parents say Wise made the boys strip naked and expose their genitals for an inspection. He found no contraband on any of them.
The parents, on behalf of their sons, filed a federal lawsuit on June 15 against Wise, Harmon and Superintendent Rhyne Thompson for their roles in the strip searches. The plaintiffs said the searches violated their sons’ civil rights and broke district policy.
School district leadership would not comment on the recording. They acknowledged receipt of the lawsuit in an unsigned statement and said the safety and well-being of students and staff are priorities.
Defendants filed responses to the lawsuit last month. William Allen, Wise’s attorney, argued that the resource officer’s actions weren’t reckless and didn’t rise to the level of a civil rights violation. The attorney also claims Wise’s actions didn’t stray from his job duties. Harmon denied, through his attorney, violating any of the boys’ constitutional rights and asserted that the principal acted in good faith on the job. Attorneys Danny Griffith and John McClain, who represent the district and superintendent, argue there was no proof Thompson or the district didn’t adequately train Wise or that the reported lack of training led to the alleged strip search.
Read more: Federal lawsuit accuses Attala County school resource officer of strip-searching high school boys
Six parents of the students who were searched told Mississippi Today their sons’ behavior has changed since the incident. Some have dropped athletics and other activities they used to enjoy. Others retreated from friends and family. Others feel too humiliated and afraid to go to school.
“We want our students that are in the Attala County School District to know they’re safe,” Cooper said. “We want justice.”
‘Down to your ankles’
In the recorded meeting, Cooper’s son recalled the series of events that led to the strip search in Wise’s office.
The student said he was on a bathroom break with other classmates when a vape detector went off. Then coach Kenyon Ross and Wise escorted the group to the hallway. Ross looked for a wand to scan the boys for an electronic cigarette.
The boys were later led to a hallway outside Wise’s office. Each boy spent about eight minutes inside, Cooper’s son estimated. He waited and wondered what was happening inside.
Then it was his turn.
“He said take my hoodie off, take my shirt off and pull my pants down. And so I did that. And then I started to pull my pants back up. He said, ‘No, no, no. Go to the chair and pull your drawers down to your ankles,’” the boy said in the recording.
Wise’s explanation for the search didn’t provide any comfort for Cooper. She felt he was making light of the incident in their conversation.
“Situation with that is, in the past, we have had kids to have vapes,” Wise said to Cooper in the recording.
A history of abuse repeated
Cooper said withdrawing her son before his senior year of high school was difficult. She enrolled him at a private Christian school she founded in 2015. He had to give up on activities like band along with easier access to scholarship opportunities. She said it was the right choice, though.
“They would still have to look up in the face of the principal and the assistant principal who allowed it,” Cooper said of her son and the other boys.
Some parents chose to keep their students enrolled at McAdams High. They said financial and transportation concerns were deciding factors.
Angenette Haymer’s son still attends the school. He decided to stay so he could compete in basketball and football. She also couldn’t transfer him to a neighboring district without a different address.
“I’m happy he will graduate this year, but I hate he was forced to make this decision,” she said.
Her son will graduate a year early. He told her he “wants to get it over with.”
Tiffany Greer also kept her son at McAdams High. She said the tuition to attend a private school was too steep. She also would need to handle his transportation, which would be an added inconvenience.
He also told her he wanted to continue with the band. She said he is “doing well enough to get through the days.” But she’s paranoid he could face harassment again.
She said she hasn’t seen Wise around the high school.
Cooper said she and her son were far from strangers to Harmon and Wise before the incident in February. She taught at the school for a decade. Harmon was her son’s elementary school principal.
Her son had been to Harmon’s home, too. He had played with Harmon’s children, she said.
“The district doesn’t want to take ownership when these things happen,” Cooper said. “The principal doesn’t want to take ownership. So where does it end?”
She said she hoped to protect her son. She knew his pain well. A teacher physically assaulted her as a student in the 1980s at the same school, she said. She also had to transfer to a different district before her senior year to avoid her abuser. She said she feels as though history has repeated itself.
While no trial date has been set yet for the lawsuit, Cooper said she wants justice for her son.
“As a parent, I sometimes feel I’m constantly preaching greatness to my children when the world around them tries to say something different. And I keep telling my son that just because someone mistreats you doesn’t make you the villain.
“And even the people that we trust the most can do us the most harm.”
This article was originally published by Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Source: Original Article
