A recent scandal that has surfaced as a result of a so-called “hooky party” at a middle schools has raised several questions in regards to civil liberties and confidentiality issues.
In mid- April of this past school year, several students at I.S. 164 did not attend school and instead engaged in other activities that officials at the school believe to have involved alcohol and sex. Instead of taking standard procedures to deal with the students who attended this party such as detention, school administrators demanded that the female students who attended this party take pregnancy tests as well as an STD and HIV test. More over, the school demanded that the girls provided a doctors note with information about the results of their tests. The students said that if they did not comply with the schools demands they could not return to school.

This issue has caught the eye of many, one of whom was the New York Civil Liberties Union. They claim that there was an infringement on the girls’ basic constitutional rights to privacy, equality, and due process on the part of the school officials. The controversy lies in the fact that the school failed to respect the confidentiality rights provided for by the constitution. Forcing the girls to not only take these medical examinations, but also provide the results is a clear violation of their right to privacy. The girls were also denied equality because they believe they were victims of sexual bias. The lawyers for the girls believe that the male student who took part in the “hooky party” was not asked to take tests for sexually transmitted diseases. Aside from that, the girls who were forced to get tested faced yet another form of discrimination. As word spread around the school, the girls became stigmatized. One girl was quoted as saying that she became “ the center of attention all of the sudden”.

In simplest terms, the girls were being punished for activities that may or may not have taken place. Even still, as the girls’ lawyer stated, the school’s actions were not justified because the students were off school grounds when the alleged events occurred.
Many feel that the course of action taken by the school overstepped several boundaries. As

Donna Lieberman, the executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, stated in a New York Times article, this controversy “is part of a pattern of the school system taking a fundamentally misguided approach to teenage girls and their health.” She went on to say, “ … the school administrators assumed they could keep students out of school based on the results of the tests. That is clearly illegal.”

When word of this issue reached Harlem Live we decided to take it to the streets and ask YOU, the people, what you thought about the circumstances surrounding the last suit filed in the Federal District of Manhattan on July 8, 2003. We received a wide range of intelligent opinions regarding this issue. A Crisis Counselor named Dennis for example, believes that the school was wrong in its demands for testing of the females and he also stated that because schools must follow a policy of mandatory reporting, in which they need to report certain things to the state, the confidentiality and privacy of the female students would be violated further. Dennis also commented on the fact that school records are too easily accessed.

Through out our interviews we found that people young and old felt the same about the issue. A tech-supporter named LaRoyce, age 21, strongly felt that because the events that may or may not have occurred during the “hooky party” not occur on school ground the school should not have gotten involved. One woman who we interviewed named Denizee, a retired resident of Long Island, felt that the school had good intentions however, they should’ve dealt with them in a different manner.

Young or old, most everyone disagreed with the schools actions and felt that a lawsuit was the proper way to address the situation. Personally, I agree with the majority. School officials had good intentions, however, the approached them in an illegal way. It is understandable to question what the girls were exposed to during the “hooky party” especially if alcohol and or sex was involved, given the young age of the girls. However, that is a matter to be discussed and dealt with accordingly by the parents of the students.