Lawsuit filed over NRA T-shirt at middle school
The Charleston Gazette, Kate White
The mother of a teenager who wore a National Rifle Association T-shirt to school is suing the Logan County Board of Education alleging her son’s constitutional rights were violated.
Tanya Lardieri filed the lawsuit in federal court last month on behalf of her son, Jared Marcum. Marcum was charged in 2013 by police with disrupting an educational process and obstructing an officer after he was asked to turn the shirt inside out or face suspension by Logan Middle School staff. A judge later dismissed the charges.
The lawsuit seeks $200,000 in compensatory damages and $250,000 in punitive damages.
Marcum was approached by faculty during his lunch period and asked to remove the shirt or turn it inside out. He was taken to the principal’s office when he refused. He was suspended for one day, according to previous Gazette reports.
The lawsuit claims the shirt complied with the county and school’s dress code policies at the time and didn’t display a violent or threatening image.
This story makes my patriotic blood boil. How dare the Logan County School district infringe on the Constitutional right of a law-abiding teenage citizen. His shirt is not the problem here-not even close. The real problem: the Logan County Board of Education and their lack of common sense.
This poor kid was accused of “disturbing and educational process.” On what grounds? Absolutely none.
We live in an ultra-sensitive society today. As Constitutionalists, we must make more effort than ever to conserve our natural-born rights. The teenager’s mother has shown her resilience to the oppressive school with a quick-filed lawsuit against the Logan County Board of Education.
To top this whole thing off with cherry of irony, the school sports a statue of a WW II soldier clutching a grenade in one hand and an M-1 Garand in the other. There’s nothing like the school board cherry-picking what they deem right and wrong when it comes to guns.
Some would argue that it’s an inappropriate shirt for an educational environment. Tell the kid to turn it inside out, and carry on with the day. There’s far more to it than that. The teenager would be giving up much more than a cool NRA logo.
Our freedom of speech and support for the Second Amendment cannot be encroached upon, regardless of how obscure the violation is.
