By SUSAN PHINNEY

Schools barely get baggy-to-the-knees pants and bare bellies under control, or at least cover, when thong panties snap them to attention.

The issue was revealed recently when administrators at Rancho Bernardo High School in Southern California stopped teen girls arriving for a dance and asked if they were wearing thong underwear. Some were even asked to prove it. Thong-wearers were then sent home to change into panties that presumably offered more coverage.

Did it occur to the thong police that some of these offenders might come from homes where thongs reign? Apparently not. But these diligent officials did offer equal opportunity harassment. A 17-year-old male arriving in a toga had to lift it up to prove he was wearing shorts underneath. A police officer patrolling the scene suggested the exams be stopped. They weren't.

Needless to say, the kids complained. Enraged parents threatened lawsuits, and the director of the American Civil Liberties Union for San Diego and Imperial counties spoke out against the searches.

Within days, thong-checker/Assistant Principal Rita Wilson (not the film star) was put on leave.

Few people seem willing to defend Wilson's actions, but many will stand up for thongs.

Pam Eshelman, co-president of PTSA at Eckstein Middle School in Seattle and mother of daughters who are 14 and 15, said one prefers thongs, one doesn't. This generation doesn't see thongs as strip-club costumery. They just don't want their panty lines to show. They want a clean look. There definitely are larger, more visible issues affecting children that are more important, she said.

Are Seattle area students in danger of being exposed to thong checks?

When local schools were called for comments, most had heard of the incident, which made the national news. Those who had not were momentarily silenced. You could almost hear them taking deep breaths, weighing their words. Then they laughed. Uproariously.

The bottom line is that Seattle area schools don't seem to care if or what students wear "under" but it should be covered by clothing that is "appropriate" but not "disruptive." The latter translates into shirts that don't advertise drugs, alcohol or tobacco, for example.

And according to a memo from the Seattle School Board, students have the right to "freedom from unreasonable search and seizure while at school." Dress codes are usually worked out by individual schools with parental and student input.

Eshelman said the dress code doesn't affect anything under clothing. She called the thong incident bizarre. "What they have under their clothing isn't an issue. I've never heard of anything like that."

Linda Wolf, a Bainbridge Island photographer and co-founder of DaughtersSisters project -- a program that supports self-esteem in girls, said it's a young woman's personal right to wear thongs. They might make her feel beautiful, and give her an inner sense of her own sexuality. "Whose business is it?" she asked.

Lenora Lee, vice principal at Seattle's Garfield High, said she has no idea what kind of panties girls wear. She just knows underwear cannot show. She said Garfield held an assembly on April 15, a refresher course of sorts to remind students that no matter how warm the weather, dress rules still apply.

Lee explained their "five finger" rule: Skirts and shorts must be fingertip length. Shirts have to have fronts and backs. Midriffs must be covered. If someone's out of compliance, they're asked to put on a coat, or sent home to change. And they comply. "We don't address their underwear," Lee said.

Elysa Hovard, a senior at Bothell High School who works part time at Victoria's Secret in Alderwood Mall, estimates that 50 to 60 percent of high school girls wear thongs because they don't want panty lines to show. And guys like girls to wear them so they have something to tease them about if the thong is exposed.

With low-slung pants and cropped tops in the fashion picture, thongs are at constant risk for exposure, and their occupants for teasing.

Hovard said Sisqo, a vocalist who gained fame for "The Thong Song" in 2000, helped promote the thong craze with lyrics that include the refrain "Baby I know you wanna show ... that thong thong thong thong thong."

According to news reports the Southern California panty check was motivated by an incident at a MORP (prom spelled backward) dance held in 2001. The dance had a "Jungle Fever" theme that inspired one female student -- obviously fevered -- to doff her costume on the dance floor.

Even in that context, the thong-check didn't make sense to this area's school administrators. In typical Northwest no-nonsense style, they pointed out that keeping kids clothed on the dance floor, not checking for panties at the door, should take priority.

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