Judge Says Student Can Sue School For Suspending Her After She Called A Fictional Cop A 'Pig'

from the peak-asinine dept

Sometimes the best move is to let something go. Kids will be kids, as the saying go. Thing is, kids may also be litigants, especially if you think your school administration position grants you the power to violate students' rights.

The mother of the 17-year-old girl filed the federal lawsuit this past February against the Hackettstown School District; teacher Kathleen Matlack; assistant principal Kevin O'Leary; and Jennifer Spukes, a Harassment, Intimidation, and Bullying specialist at the high school. The suit contends the girl was discriminated against and her constitutional rights violated as the district accused the girl of bullying and then issued a one day in-school suspension while she attended the school in the 2016-2017 school year.

That's the tidied-up summary of the lawsuit, as composed by Lehigh Valley Live, which covered the case but couldn't be bothered to post the judge's ruling. So, here's the missing paperwork [PDF] and we'll get into the story behind this via the details contained in the federal judge's order.

This is only the build-up.

On March 8, 2017, K.C. was summoned to the office of Defendant Kevin O’Leary, Assistant Principal at Hackettstown High School. Apparently, K.C. and other students were overheard having a conversation about guns and violence, which O’Leary wished to address. O’Leary asked K.C. whether the conversation concerned the Black Lives Movement; when she told him that she was speaking about confrontations between police and African Americans, O’Leary responded, “all lives matter.” According to K.C., she understood this to mean that she was not to discuss the Black Lives Movement while in school. Apparently, during this conversation O’Leary also remarked that some individuals are lucky to have light-colored skin and pass as Caucasian, which K.C. took as an insult, being that she is bi-racial. However, K.C. was not disciplined for this incident.

This seems like pretty weird behavior from a school official, but not exactly the subject matter of a federal lawsuit. An administrator took a chance to connect with students discussing a serious issue that affects all of them and chose to grind his personal ax instead. A bad decision but not exactly a violation of K.C.'s rights.

THAT

During K.C.’s English class, students were reading the play, “Blood Brothers,” which has a scene where a corrupt police officer treats two suspects differently based on their economic status. As students were picking roles to play, K.C. volunteered to play the police officer, referring to the officer as “the pig.”

ESCALATED

Her English Teacher, Defendant Matlack, reprimanded her for her choice of word and K.C. apologized. This being said, J.G. received a phone call a half hour later from Principal Matthew Scanlon, who explained to her that K.C. was the subject of a Harassment, Intimidation, and Bullying (hereinafter, “HIB”) investigation…The basis of this investigation was K.C.’s use of the word “pig,” which may have offended a student in the class whose father is a police officer…

QUICKLY

Later that day, the school conducted an HIB investigation, which was attended by K.C., Defendant Jennifer Spuckes, an HIB Investigation specialist, and Defendant O’Leary. K.C. apparently recorded this meeting. In any event, during the meeting, K.C. expressed to Defendants Spuckes and O’Leary that use of the word “pig” did not reflect her view of law enforcement and claimed that the classmate who may have been offended by the statement was not present when she uttered the word. According to the Complaint, “Mr. O’Leary and Ms. Spuckes analogized the use of the term ‘pig’ to the use of the term ‘nigger’ and, later, the term ‘fag.” Apparently, both of them asked her how she would feel if someone called her by either name. Despite objecting to these slurs, Defendants O’Leary and Spuckes continued to utter them in front of her. The two also criticized K.C. for continuing to discuss the Black Lives Movement, which they compared to someone overhearing a sexually degrading conversation between two teachers.

Where do you even start? The bullshit "bullying" accusation? Well, the lawsuit states the student supposedly offended by this wasn't even in the room when the "pig" comment was made. K.C. apologized for referring to a fictional cop character as a "pig," even though there was no reason for her to do so.

From there, it's just an embarrassment of richly embarrassing -- if not downright insulting -- conversational tactics by a bunch of disciplinarians who apparently felt compelled to straighten out a gay, multiracial student by [checks notes] using the words "nigger" and "fag" in an entirely abhorrent analogy that presumes "cop" is a race or sexual orientation.

Also: Black Lives Matter is to "sexually-degrading conversation between two teachers" as Colin Kaepernick is to:

A: gumball machine

B: complete works of Proust

C: narcolepsy

D: deciduous

This atrocious trainwreck of judgment calls was followed by a one-day suspension. This, in turn, was followed by the lawsuit.

The defendants all moved to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing K.C. didn't have standing and/or failed to state a claim. The federal court disagrees, finding both offered defenses to be off base. K.C. has standing...

[C]ontrary to Defendants’ assertion, none of Plaintiff’s claims “arise under the school laws” of New Jersey. While the allegations relate to the school’s investigation into K.C.’s alleged bullying, the claims asserted arise under a federal statute, state law, United States Constitution, and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey.

… and has stated a plausible claim.

When reviewing the Complaint, the Court is satisfied, at this stage, that Plaintiffs “pig” comment may constitute protected speech that was allegedly wrongfully infringed. While Defendants contend that her punishment was based on complaints of bullying and the school’s overall concern for preventing disruptive behavior, there is nothing alleged in the Complaint to support same. Second, with regards to the Plaintiffs conversation surrounding the Black Lives Matter movement, it can hardly be argued that discussions involving political or social justice matters do not fall within the protections afforded under the First Amendment…

There were plenty of opportunities to handle this non-issue in a way that would have eliminated the possibility of a civil rights lawsuit. Anything from "doing nothing" to "doing anything but what was done" would have sufficed. But it sounds like these administrators have something against minorities and people who don't automatically assume cops are saints. And that might cost them in the long run.

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Filed Under: free speech, hackettstown, jennifer spukes, kathleen matlack, kevin o'leary, pigs, police, students