Two former college students of a Mountain View highschool have been awarded $1 million and tuition reimbursement after they have been expelled for carrying zits face masks, which have been interpreted as “blackface,” and sued.
A Santa Clara County jury sided with the previous Saint Francis Excessive College college students who claimed the district was in breach of an oral contract and didn’t give them due course of earlier than expelling them in 2020 for pictures that have been three years previous. The jury rejected the scholars’ different claims, together with breach of contract, defamation and violation of free speech, on Monday.
The scholars, known as A.H. and H.H. within the lawsuit, will get $500,000 every from the college and in addition be reimbursed for tuition, which is about $70,000 complete.
“This case is critical not just for our purchasers however for its groundbreaking impact on all personal excessive faculties in California, which are actually legally required to supply truthful process to college students earlier than punishing or expelling them,” mentioned Krista Baughman, one of many attorneys for the scholars. “The jury rightly confirmed that Saint Francis Excessive College’s procedures have been unfair to our purchasers and that the college is just not above the regulation.”
After pictures of the scholars within the masks went viral, the college informed them to withdraw or face expulsion.
(Marcio Jose Sanchez / Related Press)
Representatives for Saint Francis mentioned in a press release that they “respectfully disagree with the jury’s conclusion as to the lesser declare concerning the equity of our disciplinary overview course of.” The officers mentioned they’re “exploring authorized choices,” together with interesting the decision.
One image, which was taken in August 2017 throughout a sleepover, reveals A.H. carrying a inexperienced face masks for zits, based on the lawsuit. The subsequent day, H.H. and one other boy took an identical photograph of themselves carrying the face masks. Three years later throughout the peak of the Black Lives Matter protests over the killing of George Floyd and racial injustice, the pictures have been shared and went viral.
Saint Francis informed the boys they both needed to withdraw from faculty or face expulsion. The boys weren’t provided a listening to and the college didn’t contemplate any proof, based on the lawsuit.
The scholars and their mother and father initially sought $20 million in damages.
“We wish to sincerely thank the jury and the courtroom system for serving to our boys and our households discover justice, which now paves the way in which for his or her names to be cleared for issues they by no means did,” mentioned A.H.’s household in a press release.
