Student sues school district after suspension over use of term ‘illegal alien’

A 10^ThThe family of a second-grade student has filed a lawsuit against a North Carolina school district after he was suspended for using the term “illegal alien” in class.

The student, 16-year-old Christian McGhee, had raised his hand in class to ask whether the term “alien” used by the teacher referred to “space aliens or illegal aliens who require green cards,” according to Liberty Justice Center (LJC), representing his family in the case against the Davidson County Board of Education.

Christian’s harmless comment was followed by a joking threat against him from a fellow student and friend who is of Latino descent.

Dean McGee, educational freedom advocate at LJC, says it is important to understand that the relationship between the two boys was friendly; McGhee’s classmate did not say he was at all offended by the incident.

In an interview on the Todd Starnes Show, LJC’s McGee explained that Christian’s mother, who met with school administrators on the day of the incident, said: “As far as I know, no one was really offended by my boy being friends with this other one. “ young man in class, but why don’t we all meet? Bring me, my son, the teacher, this boy and his family, and we will all meet and make sure there are no misunderstandings about anyone’s feelings.”

However, the Davidson County School District (DCSD) ultimately decided to suspend Christian for three days for speaking out as an “illegal alien.”

“Even though Christian asked a factual, non-threatening question — about a word that was being discussed in class — the school board branded him with false accusations of racism,” said Buck Dougherty, senior counsel at LJC.

“The school violated not only his constitutional right to free speech, but also his right to due process and his right to access to education, a guaranteed right under North Carolina law.”

The lawsuit argues, “The school board had no legal justification to suspend Christian because his comment was protected speech under the First Amendment.” The lawsuit seeks to overturn the suspension from Christian’s academic records because his family fears that a waiver would have serious consequences for Christian’s college applications.

From LJC’s perspective, DCSD does itself a disservice by making examples of Christians.

“The administration is so focused on punishing this boy that I believe they will destroy their own school’s reputation by simply refusing to admit a mistake and doubling the punishment,” McGee concluded.

Christian’s legal team notes that he was unable to peacefully return to school following his suspension due to the school administration’s defamation of his character. Christian withdrew from Central Davidson High School to finish the semester homeschooling.