Family members said this week that Atlantic high school officials forced five teenage girls to remove their clothes during an investigation into a theft.
The girls' families and their lawyers said the incident at Atlantic high school amounts to a strip-search, which is illegal in Iowa schools. But school officials said the search was "allowable" under board rules. Dan Crozier, superintendent of the Atlantic school district confirmed the search took place. The girls were searched in a locker room after a classmate reported $100 was missing from her purse. The girls were forced to strip down to their undergarments, and one girl was made to take off all of her clothes. The money wasn't found.
