December 12, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
media@aclu.org PROVIDENCE, RI -
The American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island has filed a lawsuit on behalf
of Portsmouth High School senior Patrick Agin, whose planned yearbook photo was
rejected by the principal on the grounds that it violates the school district's
"zero tolerance" policy for weapons. In the photo, Patrick is dressed in a
medieval chain mail coat with a prop sword over his shoulder, representing his
long-standing interest in medieval history.
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High School Senior Patrick Agin's yearbook photo was banned due to his school's "zero tolerance" policy on weapons.
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The lawsuit, filed in
Rhode Island Superior Court by ACLU volunteer attorneys Thomas Connolly and
George Lieberman, argues that Principal Richard Littlefield's actions violate
Agin's rights to freedom of speech. The ACLU seeks a temporary restraining order
preventing the school from printing the yearbook without Agin's
photo.
"Portsmouth has vividly demonstrated how 'zero tolerance'
policies serve as a simple-minded substitute for actual thinking and common
sense," said ACLU of Rhode Island Executive Director Steven Brown. "That is
hardly something an educational institution should be proud
of."
Although relying on the school's "no weapons" policy to ban
the submitted yearbook photo, the principal has conceded that Agin could include
the same photo, for a fee, in the yearbook's advertising section. The ACLU
further notes that the high school's mascot is a Revolutionary War soldier who
is occasionally depicted armed with a weapon, and that the school's own Web site
contains photographs of students with fake guns and swords. The ACLU said that
the school's ban on "weapons and violence in school" has no applicability to
Patrick's yearbook photograph.
In a letter sent to the principal
last week, the ACLU's Brown criticized the school district for its "cookie
cutter" approach to education that punishes students "not for being bad, but for
being different." Brown cited an incident four years ago in which Julie Cahill,
another Portsmouth High School senior - a former class president and a member of
the National Honor Society, drama club, Thespian Society, school band and
literary magazine - was barred by school officials from participating in a
mentoring program for elementary school children because she had purple
hair.
Agin's mother, Heidi Farrington, noted that her son is a
member of the Society for Creative Anachronism, an organization that promotes
research and reenactments of medieval history, and criticized Portsmouth's
principal for punishing her son for his creativity.
"Technology and
advancements in art and music and theater have always been and always will be
made by those who think outside the box. It is amazing to me that it is so
important for Mr. Littlefield to create conformity and to squash individual
expression," Farrington said. "As an educator he should be celebrating
individuality and not forcing these young adults to be sheep."
The ACLU's complaint is online at:
www.riaclu.org/documents/AginvPortsmouthcomplaint.pdf
