The Morgan Hill Unified School District, former Principal Nick
Boden and Assistant Principal Miguel Rodriguez were granted an
extension until Sept. 2 to respond to the lawsuit filed by the
parents of three of the four Live Oak High School students who were
sent home from school for wearing American flag T-shirts on Cinco
de Mayo.
The Morgan Hill Unified School District, former Principal Nick Boden and Assistant Principal Miguel Rodriguez were granted an extension until Sept. 2 to respond to the lawsuit filed by the parents of three of the four Live Oak High School students who were sent home from school for wearing American flag T-shirts on Cinco de Mayo.
U.S. District Judge James Ware approved the extension since the district’s two lawyers are also representing Boden and Rodriguez who are named in the suit.
John and Dianna Dariano, parents of Matt Dariano, 16; Kurt and Julie Ann Fagerstrom, parents of Dominic Maciel, 15; and Kendall and Joy Jones on behalf of Daniel Galli, 16, are named as the plaintiffs.
The suit was filed jointly by Los Angeles attorney William Becker and Ann Arbor, Mich. attorney Robert Muise of the Thomas More Law Center, a conservative Christian not-for-profit law firm, July 23 on the basis that the students’ First and Fourteenth Amendment rights were violated May 5. The suit seeks nominal damages, including a change to district policy and reimbursement of lawyer and legal fees.
Gordon & Rees LLP’s Stephanie Bradshaw and Alyson Cabrera – a team of San Francisco-based lawyers who have experience in employment litigation and workplace investigations – were hired by the district soon after Superintendent Wes Smith’s office was served with the lawsuit June 28.
A response was due to the Superior Court July 19 until the motion to extend the deadline by 45 days was approved.
In a lawsuit the most common response is referred to as an “answer” in which the defendant either denies or accepts specific allegations outlined in the suit. Bradshaw said now that the lawsuit is pending, she and Cabrera will speak on behalf of the district on the matter, though they would not comment on what their response may be.
Becker said the plaintiffs believe a “permanent remedy is necessary to foreclose the school district’s ability to draft and implement speech policies that run afoul of the Constitution.” He said an agreement, such as one done informally between the parents and district officials in a meeting locally, would leave open the possibility that a negotiated policy can be modified in the future.
The decision by Rodriguez and Boden, called “extremely unfortunate” by Smith May 7, erupted into a media spectacle. TV news cameras from numerous outlets in the Bay Area and national news outlets, such as Fox News, CNN and MSNBC, were camped outside Live Oak May 6 and 7, and the Internet was inundated with debates about Arizona’s immigration policy to the rights of students younger than 18 on a public high school campus.
The four boys instantly became hometown celebrities, some doing both national and local television and radio interviews. Three of the boys were seen at a Saturday tea party demonstration in the weeks following the incident, taking photos, shaking hands and receiving high-fives.
About 40 percent of Live Oak students identify themselves as Hispanic and about 50 percent are white. The remaining 10 percent is spread across Asian, black and mixed-race students.
Boden and Rodriguez believed the boys’ display of patriotism would cause trouble on campus and possibly a fight as many Hispanic students simultaneously celebrated Cinco de Mayo, which included a lunchtime celebration for the Mexican holiday that marks the Mexican army’s victory over the French in the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862.
In other news
Rodriguez has voluntarily left his position as assistant principal at Live Oak and recently accepted a new job at a school in Palo Alto.
