They could have prepared as much as possible for their test, but students at a Canadian school couldn’t prepare for what happened during their year-end exam: being strip-searched.

Students at Cap-Jeunesse high school in Saint-Jerome, Quebec, were strip-searched while teachers attempted to find a lost cellphone during a math exam. The teachers were worried the phone was being used to cheat on the year-end exam, according to the QMI Agency.

The school board in Saint-Jerome, about 40 miles northwest of Montreal, determined the teachers “lacked judgment” for implementing the strip searches during the exam for Grade 10 students.

“It was a disproportionate action under the circumstances,” school-board representative Nadyne Brochu said. “These are not measures that are recommended by either the school or the school board.”

One of the students strip-searched during the exam explained how the incident unfolded. “They put us in a small room,” the female student who didn’t give her name told QMI. “[They said,] ‘Take off your bra, then raise your arms.’ They even tapped us on the back.”

Brochu said the principal at Cap-Jeuenesse wasn’t told about the students being strip-searched during the exam. “Once officials heard what had happened, they immediately contacted the students' parents to explain the situation,” she said.

Brochu added that the students will be allowed to retake the year-end math exam, noting that “the climate was not conducive to a good test.” As for the teachers, it’s unclear whether they will be punished for instituting the strip search, according to the school board.

Canada