Binghamton School District Responds to “Strip Search” Suit

A law firm representing the Binghamton City School District in a federal lawsuit in connection with an alleged "strip search" of four East Middle School students has issued a formal response.

The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund filed the suit in April in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York.

Syracuse-based Goldberg Segalla on Thursday released a statement on behalf of the school district and the Board of Education.

The statement indicates the district, the board and the employees named in the lawsuit "categorically deny" the material allegations.

The four 12-year-old girls involved in the incident that was said to have occurred at the school on January 15 are black and Latina. They allegedly "were subjected to an illegal strip search."

The law firm's statement maintains the students were sent to a nurse for a "basic medical evaluation" after they were "missing" for 15 minutes during a lunch period.

The statement indicates the girls returned to where they were supposed to be "after being medically cleared without incident or complaint."

An attorney for the law firm has advised the school district, the board and the employees named in the case not to comment on the matter.

The attorney who issued the statement, Shannon O'Connor, could not be reached Thursday afternoon.

Contact WNBF News reporter Bob Joseph: bob@wnbf.com

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