Mother of student suspended for saying ‘illegal immigrant’ had ‘no choice’ but to sue school board

The mother of a North Carolina high school student said she had “no choice” but to sue her son’s school district, which suspended him for asking about the term “illegal alien.”

Leah McGhee, the mother of a Central Davidson High School student, said her son’s English teacher assigned him various vocabulary words in April, one of which was “alien.” Her son had asked for clarification on the word, asking whether it referred to “space aliens or illegal aliens without green cards.” This prompted the school to suspend McGhee’s son for three days. McGhee has argued that the suspension caused her son to miss several important athletics competitions and the family decided to expel their son from school.

The lawsuit filed by the Liberty Justice Center came about a month later.

“We have been asking the school for weeks to handle the matter privately,” McGhee said on Fox News Fox & friends. “I emailed the school board for four weeks. I have not received a response from the school authorities. And since…we didn’t have a solution, we had no choice but to file a lawsuit and make the matter public.”

McGhee also said her son received accusations of racism after his suspension, but the community they live in sided with her after she spoke at a school board meeting Monday night. She added that she had received messages of support “from all over the country.”

Dean McGee, an attorney with the Liberty Justice Center, argued that there is “no basis for racism” surrounding the word “alien” and called the suspension of McGhee’s son “outrageous.” He added that the government branded McGhee’s son a racist because “schools are government” and denied him an education for three days as a result of his suspension.

The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina against Davidson County Schools.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

After McGhee’s son received the suspension, Republican State Senator Steve Jarvis contacted the school district’s superintendent to inform him of the situation. He had also asked the school authorities to find the best solution for all stakeholders in this dilemma.

The Washington Examiner has reached out to Davidson County Schools for comment.