TULLAHOMA – A 17-year-old student in Tennessee, United States, is suing his school district and two top school officials for the three-day suspension he received after he posted satirical memes about the principal on social media when he was not on campus.
The student, identified in court documents only as I.P., is starting his senior year in August at Tullahoma High School in Tullahoma, Tennessee, about 96km south-east of Nashville.
The lawsuit accuses the defendants – Tullahoma City Schools, former principal Jason Quick, and assistant principal Derrick Crutchfield – of violating his First Amendment rights.
In 2022, I.P. posted three memes on his public Instagram account featuring Mr Quick. None of the memes were uploaded while I.P. was on campus or during school hours, according to the lawsuit, which was filed on Wednesday in US District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee.
One meme showed Mr Quick holding a box of vegetables, to which I.P. added text that said “like a sister but not a sister
Another portrayed Mr Quick in a dress with cat ears and whiskers, while a third meme showed the principal’s face superimposed on a video game character being hugged by a cartoon bird.
“I.P. intended the images to satirise, in I.P.’s view, (Mr Quick’s) overly serious demeanour,” the lawsuit said.
I.P. was informed of the five-day suspension by Mr Crutchfield in August 2022 after a meeting with Mr Quick. The student had a panic attack, the lawsuit says, and the suspension was reduced to three days – the same punishment that applies to students in a fistfight.
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, a free-speech advocacy group also known as Fire, said in a statement that the student “intended the images to be tongue-in-cheek commentary satirising a school administrator he perceived as humourless”.
Mr Conor Fitzpatrick, a Fire lawyer and the lead lawyer for the student, said on Monday that the heart of the issue is that as long as the posts do not “disrupt the school day, the school cannot censor it”.
He said that I.P. is asking that his suspension be expunged from his record and that he is also seeking unspecified monetary damages from a jury trial.
Mr Quick, who stepped down as principal on June 30, referred questions to his lawyer, Mr W. Carl Spining, who did not immediately reply to a voicemail message seeking comment.
Mr Crutchfield could not be reached. NYTIMES
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