North Carolina student sues school board after suspension over use of term ‘illegal alien’

A 16-year-old North Carolina student who was suspended for using the term “illegal alien” in class is officially taking legal action against the school district for “harsh punishment” and “false accusations of racism.”

According to the student’s mother, Leah McGhee, an English teacher at Central Davidson High School in Lexington gave a vocabulary assignment in April that involved the word “alien.” In response, her son Christian asked if the teacher meant “like space aliens or illegal aliens without green cards?”

Another student reportedly took offense to the term and threatened to fight Christian, forcing the teacher to contact the vice principal. Staff later found the term offensive to Hispanic students and punished Christian with a three-day suspension.

After the story went viral, the Liberty Justice Center announced Tuesday that it would represent McGhee in a lawsuit against the Davidson County Board of Education.

The McGhee family is demanding a public apology from the school board and the removal of the suspension from Christian’s record. (iStock)

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“Despite Christian asking a factual, non-threatening question — about a word being discussed in class — the school board branded him with false accusations of racism,” Buck Dougherty, senior attorney at the Liberty Justice Center, said in a statement. “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. We are proud to stand with Christian and his family in challenging this egregious violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments.”

According to lawyers, Christian was banned from attending a track meet and was bullied and threatened at school. His parents eventually deregistered him and he completed his semester in a homeschooling program.

Specifically, the lawsuit states that the student who allegedly took exception to Christian’s question made it clear that he was not actually upset or offended by the term. The lawsuit also cited “a principal’s claim that harsh punishment was necessary to avoid being ‘unfair’ to students who received the same punishment ‘for saying the N-word'” – an absurd comparison.”

In response to the negative reaction following the suspension, the McGhee family expelled their son from school. (Peter Kneffel/Picture Alliance)

“School officials essentially fabricated a racist incident out of thin air and branded our client a racist without even giving him an opportunity to appeal. “Fortunately, young people do not lose their First Amendment rights at school, and we look forward to defending Christian rights here,” said Dean McGee, educational freedom advocate at the Liberty Justice Center.

The lawsuit asks the school board to revoke the suspension and remove it from his record, along with allegations that he used “racially motivated” language in class. The family is also demanding a public apology and financial damages to be determined at trial.

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In an op-ed via the Liberty Justice Center, Leah McGhee said: “I raised our son to reject racism in all its forms, but it is the school, not the Christian school, that has assigned race to this incident. It seems this government would rather destroy your own reputation and my son’s reputation rather than admit they made a mistake.

The lawsuit alleges that the school board violated Christian’s First and Fourteenth Amendment rights. (Mark Kerrison/In Images via Getty Images/Brian A. Jackson/South Florida Sun Sentinel)

Fox News Digital has reached out to the Davidson County Board of Education for comment.

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