Monday, January 16, 2006

Slumber Party Kiss Leads to Expulsion, Lawsuit

(Link) Yet another grrl-grrl kiss causes a teen to get booted from high school, this time for smooching at an off-campus slumber party -- and Daddy's throwing a million-dollar lawsuit at 'em over it.
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LNewsEditor said...

JIC Post:
By Ann Rostow
Gay.com.UK

A private school in in US state Georgia is facing a $1 million (£564,858) lawsuit after school authorities expelled a ninth grader for kissing another girl during a slumber party.

Jessica Bradley was ejected from the Covenant Christian Academy for showing "disregard for the spirit of the school standards", after word of the kiss filtered up to the school's principal last spring.

According to press reports of the complaint, Jessica's father, Ronald Bradley, sued the school for invasion of privacy and breach of contract, arguing that the school reneged on its promise to educate his daughter in exchange for tuition.

Last week, the school delivered its answer to the Gwinnett County Superior Court, maintaining that the religious-based decisions of a Christian school are not subject to judicial review.

But speaking to the Associated Press, Bradley's lawyer, David Clark, said that the Constitution's guarantee of religious freedom "does not give [the school directors] the absolute right to act how they wish to act".

According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the off-campus slumber party took place April 22nd.

Four days later, Jessica and a few other girls were called into McKinnon's office and interrogated for over an hour.

Jessica, who was also accused of sharing an earlier kiss with a different girl, was expelled, despite her 3.5 grade point average.

David Clark said none of the other girls were expelled at the time, although he was not sure whether or not anyone else was subsequently disciplined.

Although the school handbook prohibits "sexual immorality", along with the usual high school taboos, there is no explicit mention of same-sex kissing.

As for the policy against showing disregard for the spirit of school standards, Bradley's attorney argues that the vague language in this and other school regulations makes them unenforceable in cases such as Jessica's.

"It's unfair to the students, because they don't know what they can do to get themselves expelled," Clark said.

The Bradleys have since moved to US state Pennsylvania.

1/16/2006 9:13 AM

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