Charges dismissed against Suring administrator for search where students had to remove clothes

The charges have been dropped against the Suring school district administrator who had students stripped to their underwear in a January search.

Suring School administrator Kelly Casper confined six students to a restroom off the school nurse’s office to be searched on Jan. 18. The district attorney initially didn’t file charges because he said the search did not meet Wisconsin’s legal definition of a strip search, but later charged Casper with six counts of false imprisonment.

A judge dismissed the charges against Casper on Tuesday, saying there were insufficient facts to support the claim that Casper had falsely imprisoned the six girls. Casper was placed on paid administrative leave in March.

Casper kept the six girls, then ages 14 to 17, in a restroom off the school nurse’s office and had them strip to their underwear to be checked for vaping cartridges. The search turned up two cartridges, and another girl admitted to having a vape on her, according to the Green Bay Press Gazette.

The families of several girls hired civil rights attorney Jeff Scott Olson earlier this year. He told Wisconsin Public Radio in March that, regardless of the outcome of the now-dismissed criminal charges, he planned to move ahead with a civil suit over what he says is a violation of the girls’ Fourth Amendment right against unlawful search and seizure.