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.
“I was totally unaware of the situation until Wednesday,” said Superintendent Daron VanderHeiden. “I was served a summons on May 28 at about 4 o’clock in the afternoon.”
Grina declined to comment concerning the lawsuit.
“We’re still collecting information from the buildings,” VanderHeiden said. “We’ve got our legal counsel involved as of yesterday (Thursday.)”
The complaint alleges that Ibbitson’s 12-year-old son was repeatedly asked by middle school teachers and Grina to turn a series of T-shirts he wore to school bearing anti-abortion messages inside out or to cover the shirts. The document accuses teachers and Grina of violating the boy’s free speech on 11 occasions during April when he wore the shirts 13 times.
District 423’s student dress and apparel policy states that “when, in the judgment of the administration, a student’s appearance, grooming or mode of dress interferes with or disrupts the education process … the student will be directed to make modifications or will be sent home for the day.”
And that’s where the attorney’s group Thomas More Law Center of Michigan, claims the school is wrong. The lawsuit asserts that the policy is unconstitutional because it is overly-broad.
“We decided to take on the case because we thought it had merit,” said Thomas More spokesman Brian Rooney. “We have good case law for this and we’ve been successful in these types of cases before.”
The T-shirts come from an anti-abortion organization with affiliations to the law center.
“We have a friendly relationship with the American Life League because we’re both pro-life organizations,” Rooney said.
For more details, see Tuesday’s print edition of the Leader.
(Lesley Christianson is a staff writer for the Hutchinson Leader.)
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