The mother and father of a fifth-grader are suing an elite non-public Mulholland Drive elementary college after their son was expelled over emails he exchanged with a classmate containing rap lyrics and the squirt gun emoji.
The mother and father allege that the disciplinary motion was “arbitrary and capricious” and that the college offered no proof of a coverage being violated or of the classmate feeling threatened. They’re looking for to reverse their son’s expulsion and get better their authorized charges.
The petition was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court docket on Thursday towards the Curtis Faculty and Head of Faculty Meera Ratnesar, who made the choice to expel the boy. A Curtis Faculty consultant stated the college was disillusioned to be taught concerning the litigation and couldn’t touch upon particular person college students.
On Sept. 5, the boy and a classmate despatched emails forwards and backwards with lyrics from the YNW Melly tune “Murder on My Mind,” which accommodates references to weapons and violence, based on court docket paperwork. Then on Sept. 25, the scholars engaged in one other electronic mail change throughout their math class through which the son despatched messages on his school-issued laptop computer saying, “Shut up” and “I hate you,” despatched a number of inexperienced squirt gun emojis, after which stated, “You dead yet,” to which the classmate responded, “No y.”
The mother and father stated that the 10-year-old boys are pals and frolicked throughout recess instantly after the Sept. 25 electronic mail change and in addition attended the college truthful collectively on the Santa Monica Pier the next day.
Just a few days later, the boy was interviewed for about 10 minutes about inappropriate emails by the director of his grade and was advised he would doubtless lose know-how privileges at college, based on the petition.
Then on Oct. 1, the mother and father have been referred to as to a gathering with Ratnesar and knowledgeable that their son can be expelled and barred from campus. No disciplinary motion was taken towards the classmate who, based on electronic mail data, instigated the Sept. 5 change of rap lyrics.
“We are deeply disappointed by your decision to base expulsion on emails between two classmates who both showed a willingness to talk about guns based on a song’s lyrics,” wrote the mother and father in an Oct. 2 electronic mail to Ratnesar, urging her to rethink the expulsion.
Ratnesar acknowledged in an Oct. 1 electronic mail that the classmate began the e-mail change however stated their son’s “contribution of lyric lines in addition to continuing to communicate threatening emojis and language 20 days after the lyric exchange, is a serious infraction that we cannot ignore.”
The boy had attended the college for 4 years and had no disciplinary report previous to the expulsion, based on the petition, which famous he was a straight-A pupil. The mother and father’ attorneys argue that expulsion of the scholar is a dangerous disruption to his schooling and socialization along with his pals and twin brother, who nonetheless attends the college.
The petition states that the emails don’t seem to violate any college insurance policies and that the squirt gun emoji is obtainable on the college’s IT system. It additional alleges that Ratnesar has a status for “unequal and arbitrary treatment of students” and accommodates, as proof, a number of critiques left by former households on the college that debate alleged favoritism and discriminatory remedy by the top of faculty.
Curtis Faculty is a personal college educating developmental kindergarten by means of sixth grade. It has fewer than 500 college students and annual tuition of round $38,000. Based in 1925, the college is understood for rigorous curriculum and has attracted a number of superstar college students, together with the youngsters of Victoria and David Beckham.
