Among the more than 4,000 pictures Hicks has on her phone are shots of Micah on the back of an elephant, Micah playing baseball and Micah at a school dance.

“He doesn’t allow his disability to hold him back,” she said. “And I don’t either.”

One of the most important aspects of the boy’s life is going to school at Linwood Holton.

“He calls them all his best friends and they love him,” she said, adding that prior to being forced out of school, he “was a straight-A student in general studies.”

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Hicks filed the lawsuit in the hope that Micah will be allowed to remain at the school next year.

The lawsuit claims that on April 4, Hicks was notified by Linwood Holton’s principal, David Hudson, that Micah could not attend the schools “due to a residency issue.”

The following day, Hicks contacted the executive director of Exceptional Education and Student Services for the school system. Hicks was sent a text message showing an image of a letter stating that Richmond schools had “discovered” that Hicks and Micah were living at an address off Nine Mile Road in Henrico rather than the Richmond apartment listed as their official address.