Af er emoji, their their on as expel ed r m an el te priv son’s parents are suing the elite private te Mulholland M Drive lholla d D elementary iv e ele en school.
The parents claim that the school did n’t provide any evidence that a policy had been broken or that a classmate felt threatened as a result of the disciplinary action. They want to get their brother’s eviction overturned and get their legal fees back.
The complaint was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Thursday against the , Curtis School , and Head of School Meera Ratnesar, who made the decision to remove the child. A rep for the Curtis School claimed the class was unsatisfied with the lawsuit and was unable to speak with individuals individually.
According to court records, the boy and a student exchanged emails on September 5 with songs from the YNW Melly track” Death on My Mind,” which makes references to guns and assault. Then on Sept. 25, the students engaged in another email exchange during their math class in which the son sent messages on his school-issued laptop saying,” Shut up” and” I hate you”, sent several green squirt gun emojis, and then said,” You dead yet”, to which the classmate responded,” No y”.
The 10-year-old guys are friends, the kids reported, and they hung out during recess the day after the message transfer on September 25. They also attended the school good together at the Santa Monica Pier the following morning.
The child was told by the school’s director that he would probably lose access to technology privileges at school a few days later after receiving a 10-minute interview about inappropriate emails.
The parents were finally informed that their child would be barred from school and sent to a conference with Ratnesar on October 1. No administrative action was taken against the student who, according to internet files, instigated the Sept. 5 transfer of music songs.
In an Oct. 2 message to Ratnesar, the kids wrote to Ratnesar, urging her to reconsider her determination to bottom expulsion on letters between two colleagues who both showed a willingness to talk about weapons based on a song’s songs.
Ratnesar acknowledged in an Oct. 1 message that the student initiated the email exchange, but said their son’s” contribution of verse lines, in addition to continuing to communicate disturbing emojis and language 20 days after the song exchange, is a major infraction that we cannot overlook.”
The boy had attended the school for four years and had no disciplinary record prior to the expulsion, according to the petition, which noted he was a straight-A student. The student’s parents ‘ attorneys contend that the expulsion of the student would cause him to have trouble socializing and learning with his friends and twin brother, who still attend the school.
The petition claims that the squirt gun emoji is present on the school’s IT system and that the emails do not appear to violate any school rules. Further, it further alleges that Ratnesar has a reputation for “unfair and arbitrary treatment of students” and that the school has several reviews left by former students that discuss allegations of favoritism and discriminatory treatment by the head of the school.
The private Curtis School teaches children in kindergarten through sixth grade. It has fewer than 500 students and a$ 38, 000 annual tuition. The school, which was established in 1925, is known for its rigorous curriculum and has attracted a number of famous students, including the children of Victoria and David Beckham.
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