ACLU files suit

A lawsuit alleging a violation of Fourth Amendment rights has been filed against two Jay School Corporation employees.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana filed a lawsuit Tuesday in the U.S. District Court Northern Division of Indiana (Fort Wayne) against Jay County Junior-Senior High School assistant principal/dean of students Brad Milleman and nurse Rebecca Hudson alleging that a search conducted in November was invasive and violated her rights against unreasonable searches and seizures by the government.

Jay School Corporation is not named in the lawsuit.

“I’m aware of media reports of a press release shared by the Indiana Civil Liberties Union in connection to allegations of search and seizure conducted at Jay County Junior-Senior High,” said Jay Schools superintendent Jeremy Gulley on Tuesday evening. “As this is a matter of pending litigation, I have no comment until there is opportunity for a review of facts in concert with the district’s legal counsel.”

He added that he has not received any legal service but will be meeting with school corporation attorneys.

The complaint filed with the court alleges that Milleman removed the student, identified as “K.S.” in the document, from class on Nov. 21 and escorted her to Hudson’s office. It says the student was ordered, in the presence of Milleman and Hudson, to pull up her shirt to expose the waistband of her pants and her midriff and then lift up her sweatshirt and shirt and pull the bottom of her bra away from her body, according to the document.

The lawsuit also says the student was not informed about the reason for the search — there was a report that she had a gun — until after it was completed. It questions why metal detectors kept on hand at the school were not utilized.

“The actions taken by these school officials were taken with reckless or callous indifference to K.S.’s rights,” said Ken Falk, legal director at the ACLU of Indiana, in the release. “The Fourth Amendment applies to school officials and requires them to have reasonable suspicion for any search of a student and requires further that the search be appropriate in its scope.”

The student has not returned to the school and does not intend to return, the complaint says. It indicates that she is in counseling following the incident.

“No parent wants to see their child suffer like this,” said Nick Stout, the plaintiff’s father, in an ACLU press release Tuesday. “My daughter has been involved in multiple school sports teams, but now that she no longer feels safe in school, it breaks my heart to think she may never be able to participate in school activities again. Moving forward, we want to ensure that this never happens to another child again. We want school officials across this great country to know that they are not above our Constitution or the law.”

The complaint requests a jury trial. It asks that the court find that the student’s Fourth Amendment rights were violated and that she be awarded nominal, compensatory and punitive damages for the violation as well as “emotional harm, anguish and other related injuries.”

Changes to the Jay County Junior-Senior High School handbook approved by Jay School Board in May included an update to the search and seizure policy that modified rules for student searches to ensure that two individuals are present for any search, the search be conducted by someone of the same biological gender as the student and that an administrator or their designee be present.