KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Kansas City school district officials confirmed Wednesday that third-grade students were strip-searched, and promised "the most severe disciplinary consequences available" against the adults involved.

"The District finds the conduct of the adults directly involved in this incident to be abhorrent," district officials said in a written statement. They called the searches "an egregious violation of District policy."

According to parents, school workers at Pitcher Elementary searched 23 students for $5 in missing lunch money on March 18. The money was eventually found, though not because of the searches.

Principal Jana Schwimmer and two teachers were suspended last week pending the investigation.

School district spokesman Edwin Birch said the three staff members remain suspended, but said state law prohibited him from talking about any other disciplinary action they face.

Birch said the district's legal team interviewed all 23 students in the third-grade class, along with the three adults involved in the search.

Superintendent Bernard Taylor sent a letter home to parents, dated Tuesday, which said the searches "unquestionably violated District policy that clearly prohibits requiring students to undress as part of a search."

Parents have said third-grade teacher Betty Bettis started the strip search after other efforts to find the money failed. Bettis reportedly took the girls to a rest room, then had them pair up in stalls, where they were told to check each other's underwear.

The boys went to the gymnasium with physical education teacher Thomas L. Sims, who took them one at a time into a locker room where each was told to strip down and shake his underwear, parents said.

On Monday, the father of one of the students sued Sims for at least $25,000. The parent, Melvine Vines, also wants a judge to order the district to clarify its policy on searches and ensure that the policy is understood by all staff members. The lawsuit does not name the district.

Birch said Taylor would not be commenting on the conclusion that 23 students were strip-searched. Besides the letter to parents, Birch said, "There's really no need for him (Taylor) to comment further."