Hutchinson Leader - Lawsuit alleges District 423 violated student's free speech - Comments

Offensive shirts such as

hutchindaughter — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 14:24:35 -0500

Offensive shirts such as 'Green Bay Packers' shirts should not be allowed.

So the way I am reading this

lala — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 11:12:13 -0500

So the way I am reading this is that the school never had any contact with the mother before this lawsuit? WHY?! The boy wore the shirt 11 times?! The school should have called the mother the second or third time. Where I went to highschool if you wore something more than twice your parents were called and there was a meeting with everyone involved. The courts should throw this one right in the trash and fine both parties for negligence.

ABSURD! Asolutely

sportsnut — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 09:50:11 -0500

ABSURD!
Asolutely ridiculous.
I do not know how else to sum this up.
Rules are rules. Dress code is a rule. The shirt was inapporiate and the school thought it crossed the line. Kudos to them for taking action. I just cannot get over how some people thnk the shirt was approriate and that he and others should be allowed to express their beleifs. There are other places for this - but SCHOOL IS NOT ONE OF THEM.
The one thing the school could do is take a tighter grip on this. There is a fine line on dress code and it is a touchy situation but more could probably be done.

Maybe, someday, when certain

indy — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 08:30:02 -0500

Maybe, someday, when certain participants are older and wiser, they will realize who the gullible party is and realize just how frivolous this whole lawsuit is. Some of the members in this thread appear to be at an age of influence and need to take a good look at where their influences are coming from.

The parents of this child

ThAtSsOrAvEn — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 23:48:58 -0500

The parents of this child are clearly trying to cash in on this joke of a lawsuit.
The only winners in this will be the lawyers who will weigh everything down with paperwork costing everyone thousands of dollars.
I was told that the shirt was very graphic... any parent who would dress the child in such a shirt should be looked at by social services. Certainly other craziness is also occurring in the household.
Maybe if the family is so "driven" about this topic the little boy could be taken by his parents to a tatoo parlor and have it inked on himself... that way he could wear the banner under his clothes everyday to school without disrupting the beliefs of others, yet at the same time be allowed to display it under wraps... a win win for both sides. Of course he would have to turn it inside out when he showers in PE.

With out seeing the shirt it

arcy — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 18:33:17 -0500

With out seeing the shirt it is tough to know how distracting it may be. Abortion is violence at its most senseless and ugly. Fetuses "Little One" in Latin are little HUMANS, not frogs or toads. If we think it is ok, we should not find it so distasteful to see. Be that as it may the suit will prevail not because of the possible graphic nature of the shirt but because of the policy and how inconsistently it is enforced. I am all for the school getting to enforce its policies and for students being made to follow a policy. The courts will find the policy is non enforceable in a fair and unbiased manner as written and that it is not enforced consistently and evenly across the population. No one is not backing the school's authority. The school just needs to write a policy that can be objectively enforced.

I certainly wouldn't believe

gopher5 — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 17:24:55 -0500

I certainly wouldn't believe everything coming from the family. I would consider that extremely gullible since they are the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. They are going to say anything that makes their view seem right. I think we are spending too much time on that the shirt is about abortion. The point is that it is disruptive to the education process. If my kid went to school with swear words written all over his shirt and was asked to turn it around or take it off, then I would support the school 100%. I wouldn't consider that an infringement of free speech because the shirt would be disruptive to the purpose of the school which is to educate everyone. There have to be rules or nobody would learn anything.

They're not asking, they're

jb2007 — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 17:19:55 -0500

They're not asking, they're suing, and for monetary gain at that. I hardly think that the Leader could have possibly gotten that part of the suit wrong.

Don't believe everything you hear either, or see on a 12 year old's shirt.

Well, "Indy" alot of things

Briana2012 — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 15:55:06 -0500

Well, "Indy" alot of things are "according to the article" but I have talked to the family and all they ask is for a right to wear the shirts. Besides no offence to the hutchinson leader but I dont exactly think all of their stories are accurate. My mom always said, Dont believe everything you read. Thats what I call gullible.

So many comments on the

bosoxguy — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 11:07:24 -0500

So many comments on the school monitoring what kids wear. What happened to the parents monitoring what kids are wearing??? This is just another case of poor parenting that ends up being someone else's fault.

first of all, who are the

onemoreopinion — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 09:49:18 -0500

first of all, who are the ones who are buying these kids these t-shirts and what-not? Most of the time, unless the kids have a job and are buying these things on their own, it is the parents that are providing kids with these t-shirts and such. second, did we not have a vote at one time for school uniforms and let's see, it was turned down right? third, why is this the issue we are so concerned about? why not worry about what type of education these kids are receiving since they are the ones who will be running this country. they are the ones who will be taking care of us when we are not able, when we retire are we going to be concerened over what some kid wore in high school or are we going to worry about whether we will have enough money to live out our retirement?

I think the word "scared"

ThAtSsOrAvEn — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 08:10:20 -0500

I think the word "scared" might be over-the-top a bit. We are talking about middle school aged students not 1st graders at West. The theme of the shirt was inappropriate to wear to school.
A girl wearing a tight top and tiny shorts can also be a disruption. It was the content of the shirt and for most parents a clear no no... yet we have parents like this one who sees nothing wrong with it... I get the fact that they are against abortion... sending a child to school wearing a banner isn't appropriate.
I am against Bush and feel he is an idiot and a terrorist, yet I do not send my child to school wearing a shirt with bush's face on a donkey's body.

The dress code policy states

indy — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 06:48:17 -0500

The dress code policy states that clothing is deemed inappropriate if it creates a disruption at school. I think others will agree that this choice of clothing created a disruption for your daughter. Thank you for bringing this instance to everyone's attention! Your daughter was in an environment where she should have felt safe - not scared.

We should stick up for our

ThAtSsOrAvEn — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 20:11:41 -0500

We should stick up for our rights... perhaps "little johnny" could have shared his beliefs in health class by using his freedom of speech.
I believe in the right to bare arms, but you don't see me sending guns with my children to school.

I beg to differ. He does not

ThAtSsOrAvEn — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 20:07:09 -0500

I beg to differ. He does not have a right to wear the shirt. He can wear it to his grandmother's place if he wants but not in front of others in a public school. Abortion has it's place in our society in certain situations. Your weak minded argument that it is not offensive because it is talked about in school is silly. They also talk about many dark things in our nation's history and many tragic events that happen in current events. Doesn't hardly give permission for everyone at school to wear nazi, murderers and drug pictures on our outfits!
This rebel has a right to wear this shirt in his house... his backyard... and the keg party... not in the middle of math class.
The school does not encourage abortion... it probably discusses the topic in appropriate classes.

Lawsuit alleges District 423 violated student's free speech

Lesley Christianson — Fri, 30 May 2008 12:21:00 -0500

A Hutchinson mother has brought a civil lawsuit against Hutchinson School District 423 on behalf of her sixth-grade son.

The lawsuit, which names Jeanne Ibbitson as the plaintiff and Hutchinson School District and Middle School Principal Todd Grina as the defendants, alleges that the school district violated Ibbitson’s son’s constitutional rights of free speech, equal protection and due process. Ibbitson was unavailable for comment Friday afternoon.