Judge Sets Signature Bond For Casper Search Case

In Oconto County Circuit Court on Wednesday, March 23, Suring School Superintendent Kelly Casper, 51, of Coleman, made her initial appearance on six counts of false imprisonment related to the Jan. 18 strip searches of students for vaping devices or cartridges.

As requested by District Attorney Edward Burke, Judge Michael T. Judge set a $5,000 signature bond for Casper and ordered her to have no contact with the students or their parents. Burke told the judge one parent had asked that Casper not be allowed on school grounds, but said he wouldn't ask that. He felt that limitation should be up to the school board.

Defense attorney Nicholson Ganser agreed a signature bond would be appropriate. He noted Casper and her family have lived in the same home in Coleman for 21 years, and said she has strong ties to the community. She was an educator in area schools for 27 years, including eight years as Suring's superintendent. She was High School principal at Coleman before that. Ganser also said Casper has been suspended from her job at the Suring school, so she wouldn't be there unless she was called in by the board. Casper has been on paid administrative leave since a special Suring School Board meeting on Wednesday, March 2.

Ganser had filed a motion for dismissal, and Judge Judge scheduled a motions hearing for Thursday, April 28.

In the motion to dismiss, Casper's attorney contends the criminal complaint fails to provide sufficient facts for a judge to find probable cause for the charges, and asserts the students were "not genuinely restrained or confined" when they were taken to a bathroom adjacent to the nurse's offices so the searches could be conducted privately. It also noted the state allows students to be removed from classrooms and confined.

Burke, when he announced the filing of the charges, said Casper lacked legal authority to confine the students. He said the children weren't given a chance to call their parents before being confined to the bathroom, and were only allowed to choose between a search conducted by Casper or a police officer. The complaint said once they followed orders to remove their clothing down to their underwear they were no longer free to leave. He had previously determined that Casper had not violated "strip search" laws because private parts of the students were not exposed.

The charges against Casper stem from events on January 18, when she and a school nurse searched six girls between the ages of 14 and 17 inside a bathroom off the nurse's office, looking for vaping devices and vape cartridges. Investigators said Casper asked them to strip down to their underwear.

The courtroom was packed for the March 23 proceedings, with more than 40 people apparently there to support Casper. Several of the students who were searched and their parents also present.

According to a news report, four Republican legislators representing communities in Northeast Wisconsin are proposing legislation that would ban strip searches in schools. Rep. David Steffen of Green Bay was quoted: "I think many of us were absolutely shocked not only that it happened but it wasn't illegal -- that a school administrator, a staff person can require a strip search!"

Former Shawano and Gillett superintendent Todd Carlson, was named interim superintendent by the Suring School Board on March 9, with his employment to become effective on Monday, March 21.

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