CLARK COUNTY — Families said they are upset at the way a local school carried out a cellphone search.
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This happened Thursday at Northwestern Local Schools in Clark County.
“My daughter feels very violated from the incident. She’s self-conscious about herself,” Ashlee said.
Ashlee’s eyes filled with tears as she shared her daughter’s story.
Her daughter is an eighth grader at Northwestern.
She read a text her daughter sent to her.
“It offended me a ton as someone who had to lift their shirt up high; the whole situation should have been handled differently,” the text said.
Students said Thursday it started with an announcement over the loudspeaker.
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“At the beginning of sixth period, they called for a lockdown or shelter in place,” Alex Lippincott, a 10th grader, said.
Immediately, Lippincott assumed the worst.
“You didn’t know if there was going to be a school shooter or intruder,” Lippincott said.
Several students said the principal and vice principal searched students for cellphones.
“Vice principal came in, told them to line up, lift their shirts up to show their waistbands,” Ashlee said.
Some students refused.
“I actually said I wasn’t going to do that because ... I didn’t feel comfortable doing that at all,” Lippincott said. They did tell some people that if they didn’t do it, they would be suspended or have after-school detention."
News Center 7 reached out to Superintendent Ryan Rismiller.
In an email, Rismiller said, “The district is having the entire incident investigated.”
The Clark County Sheriff’s Office said it did receive a few reports from parents.
For any further questions, the sheriff’s office referred to the school.
Some students did not go back to school on Friday.
“I knew if they were there, it would be very uncomfortable and I would just want to go home anyways,” Lippincott said.
Students said the principal and vice principal were not at school Friday.
But the elementary principal was and listened to some of the high schoolers’ questions.
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