WEB EXCLUSIVE

Imagine this: you are sitting in class, doing your work, being a good child. Out of nowhere, an administrator walks in and asks the teacher where you are. The next thing you know, you are being patted down like a criminal.

Well, this happened to me.

I was just sitting in Spanish class, minding my own business and doing my work. Once I heard my name called, I immediately knew something was wrong. My first thought was, Did someone die? I looked at my friends nervously and raised my hand to acknowledge who I was.

“Pack up your stuff and come with me,” the administrator said. I did as I was told and packed up my work. I got up nervously and walked with him to the door and stepped outside.

As the door started to close, the administrator said, “Let’s go to your locker.” And as the door sounded that final thud, I heard my class gasp in surprise.

We walked down the hallway and approached my locker. My heart started pounding harder and harder. As soon as I saw the police dogs, I knew what was wrong.

When we reached my locker, the administrator asked, “ Is this your locker?” I nodded and confirmed his question.

“Open it,” he said, in a stern voice. I did as I was told–once again–and stepped back. He then kneeled down and started to rummage through my locker! He flipped through every binder and looked through every nook and cranny of my possessions. My privacy felt more and more violated with every page he turned.

“Take off your backpack,” the administrator said. I gave him my backpack.

Then he just dumped everything out! My pencils, binders, books, and papers went spilling onto the floor, making a mess. He checked through everything; he even sniffed my wallet.

After he was done with my backpack, he stood up and faced me.

“Take everything out of your pockets and hold your hands above your head.”

I did what he said and waited.

Then, he started to pat me down. That’s when I thought “SHOULDN’T THEY CHECK IF I AM A CRIMINAL OR SOMETHING BEFORE DOING THIS?”

After he finished patting me down, he faced the dean and said, “He’s clean.”

In my head I’m like, “DUHH of course I’m clean,” but I kept my mouth shut.

They told me to clean up my stuff and head back to class. While I was putting my belongings back in my backpack and locker, I asked, “Umm, so what is happening exactly?” They then told me that a dog smelled some drugs in my locker’s area and told me to go back to class.

When I knocked on the classroom door, I saw the whole class snap their heads toward the door. When it opened, I was bombarded with questions and comments. People kept saying that I was the person that they least expected to do drugs and that they didn’t understand why I got searched.

I later found out that all the lockers around me got searched as well. And that feels like it was an invasion of all our privacies. I just hope it was worth it and they caught the right kid.