Edina mom says elementary school staff 'strip-searched' her son
In a lawsuit filed on Aug. 30 in Hennepin County, a woman claims that staff at Countryside Elementary subjected her son to a "body cavity strip-search" in early 2018 when he was in second grade.
She alleges that district employees were trying to determine whether her son had defecated on the floor of a bathroom, which, she says, he did not.
MPR News is not naming the woman to protect her son’s privacy.
Plaintiff's attorney Marshall Tanick said the search left the boy, now 9, traumatized and it was done without his parents' consent.
"In this situation, the parents were never told about this even after it happened," Tanick said.
The mother is seeking unspecified damages in excess of $50,000 as well as an unredacted copy of a report the district prepared following the incident.
In a statement, the Edina school district says it vehemently denies the allegations, and the lawsuit is based on significant misunderstandings of the district's actions.
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