Suring superintendent resigns after forcing students to remove clothing in search for vaping materials

Suring school district administrator Kelly Casper, who had students remove their clothing to be searched for vaping materials in January, resigned earlier this month.

The school board unanimously approved Casper’s resignation at its June 8 meeting, with her employment officially ending June 30.

Casper was charged with six counts of false imprisonment over the search, but a judge dismissed those charges on June 21, after her resignation had been approved. Casper had been on paid administrative leave since March.

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 false imprisonment.

The six girls, then ages 14 to 17, were held in a restroom while Casper 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 he plans to file a civil suit over what he says is a violation of the girls’ Fourth Amendment right against unlawful search and seizure.