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Va. school district settles lawsuit with student who sued over dress code
Eighth-grader was prohibited from wearing T-shirt that depicted images of weapons
© 2004 Student Press Law Center
March 4, 2004
VIRGINIA — A middle school student who sued his school
district over its dress code has agreed to settle the case with the school
board.
Eighth-grader Alan Newsom and his father sued Albemarle County
School Board in September 2002, alleging that a Jack Jouett Middle School
assistant principal violated his First Amendment right to free expression by
requiring him to wear his National Rifle Association T-shirt inside out. The
purple T-shirt included the phrase "NRA Sports Shooting Camp" and featured three
silhouettes of men holding guns.
Both sides said they could not disclose
details of the settlement.
"This was a case that should never have had to
go to litigation," said Dan Zavadil, Newsom's attorney, who took the case on
behalf of the NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund. "A student's rights are clear and
were clear at the time that we started. [We] made efforts to resolve this short
of litigation. At one point, we even offered to accept just an apology and [a
promise that the school] won't do it again."
When the administrator asked
Newsom to conceal the image on his shirt, the school's dress code did not
prohibit clothing depicting weapons, according to court documents. The
administrator told Newsom to wear the T-shirt inside out because the shirt
reminded her of the Columbine High School shootings, court documents say.
The school board then changed the policy, banning all images of weapons
on clothing. In December 2003, a three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals
for the Fourth Circuit ruled that Albemarle County School Board could not
enforce its revised dress code until the lawsuit was resolved. The court ruled
the revised policy was too broad and that the NRA T-shirt did not disrupt the
school.
According to the settlement, reached Feb.20, "The parties
recognize the rights and responsibilities of the students in the school system
and the School Board's continued support for its teachers and
administrators."
Newsom sought $100,000 in compensatory damages and
$50,000 in punitive damages, as well as legal fees, which the NRA estimated to
be $127,000 in mid-January, according to a Feb. 26 article in The Hook
magazine.
"It is somewhat ironic that we've got a First Amendment case
that we can't talk about," Zavadil said, referring to an agreement that the
terms of the settlement not be disclosed.
The Jouett Handbook has been
revised to allow students to wear an article of clothing "provided it does not
disrupt the educational environment. " The revision has been distributed to
students.
Under the new policy, Newsom could wear his NRA T-shirt, said
Mark Trank, the deputy attorney for Albemarle County. The U.S. Supreme Court's
decision in the case Tinker v. Des Moines Community School District
applies to the student dress code in this case, he said.
In that decision,
the court ruled that public school students “do not shed their
constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse
gate."
For More Information: Newsom v. Albemarle County School Board, No. 03-1125 (4th Circuit, Dec. 1, 2003)Read previous coverage
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