Problem
You are a female middle school science teacher working on your Educational Administration degree and licensure to become a principal. Your mentor principal has been supportive of your efforts, and since she needed to be out one day to attend a conference, she asked you to step away from your teaching duties to be an "administrator for a day."
You spend the day shadowing the assistant principal. Things are going well until 20 minutes before the last bell. A student quietly tells the assistant principal (AP) that a girl is illegally carrying the prescription drug, Soma. The AP asks you to escort the girl from class. He says that he will phone the principal for guidance. You return with the girl, and you and the AP question her about the contraband. She vehemently denies having any contraband in her possession. By now, the girl is in tears. She continues to deny that she has anything. The AP continues questioning her and tells her that she is not being truthful. He empties her purse and backpack and finds nothing. He then calls you out into the hallway and says he cannot locate the principal. He is sure the student is lying; she has been getting away with this for months, they have never been able to catch her, and after the bell rings, the girl and her alleged contraband will be gone. He tells you that since your campus has no security officers, you must perform a strip search on the student.
Before you take action, what further information do you need? In your position, what are your legal options? What questions will you ask the AP at this point?