By Khalida Sarwari
The parents of three Live Oak High School students who were sent home on Cinco de Mayo for wearing clothes bearing the American flag filed a lawsuit today against the Morgan Hill Unified School District, according to the attorney for the students.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Jose by Los Angeles-based attorney William Becker, Jr., also names Live Oak principal Nick Boden and assistant principal Miguel Rodriguez as defendants.
The complaint seeks nominal damages for the violation of the students’ First and 14th Amendment rights.
As of about 4 p.m., the school district had not received any notification of a lawsuit, Julie Zintsmaster, secretary to district superintendent Wesley Smith, said.
School authorities had asked the plaintiffs not to provoke other students by wearing or waving American flags on May 5, a Mexican holiday that celebrates the Mexican army’s victory over French forces in 1862.
The incident sparked an outcry as it spread across the country. About 85 mostly Hispanic Live Oak students walked out of class that day and marched to City Hall. In Virginia, a high school student created a Facebook page titled “I support the 5 students from Morgan Hill high school.”
Smith released a statement following the incident calling the school’s reaction “extremely unfortunate” and said the district does not prohibit or discourage students from wearing patriotic clothing.
Becker said the school cannot silence one group while approving another’s viewpoint.
“The U.S. Supreme Court has held for decades that students do not shed their First Amendment rights at the schoolhouse gates,” Becker said.
He said students are allowed the right by state law to exercise freedom of speech by wearing buttons, badges and other insignia, and that public schools cannot interfere with that right unless a “clear and present danger” exists.