Civil Rights Lawsuit Against Hackettstown High Can Proceed: Judge

HACKETTSTOWN, NJ — A lawsuit filed by a Hackettstown High School student allegedly suspended for calling a fictional police officer a pig and clashing with an assistant principal over the Black Lives Matter movement will be allowed to proceed, a judge ruled last week.

In his ruling, Judge Peter Sheridan upheld a claim that Hackettstown High School violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and a claim that the school discriminated against the student, referred to as K.C., based on her sexuality and biracial identity. In the same ruling, he dismissed the claim filed against assistant principal Kevin O'Leary, HIB specialist Jennifer Spukes, and English teacher Kathleen Matlack that they discriminated against K.C. based on her sexual orientation.

"With respect to the student’s First Amendment claim that she was improperly punished for calling a fictional cop a 'pig' and discussing Black Lives Matter, both topics may constitute legally-protected speech that was wrongfully infringed under the First Amendment," Sheridan wrote, adding later in the decision that "the student’s allegations about what was said about her [race and sexuality] constitute severe conduct that could give rise to a hostile environment."

The case will now go into the discovery phase, and if no agreement is reached during that phase, could continue onto a full trial.

“From the start, we have believed that our client was subjected to inexcusable, and more importantly, unlawful conduct at the hands of the Hackettstown Public School District and some of its officials. We are confident in the merits and strength of our claims. We look forward to beginning the discovery process so that we can determine, among other things, whether there are other Hackettstown students out there who have been subjected to the same allegedly unlawful conduct that our client has," K.C.'s lawyer, John Rue, of John Rue & Associates, told Patch.

The suit stems from a series of meetings K.C. had with administration in March 2017 that ended with the teen voluntarily not attending school since May 2017.

K.C. says she was targeted based on her political beliefs, race, and sexual orientation by the school administration after calling a fictional police officer in a book a "pig" in English class. During the investigation, administrators allegedly used racial and sexual slurs, the lawsuit claims. K.C. is gay and biracial, the lawsuit adds.

During a March 13, 2017, English class at Hackettstown High School, students were picking parts to read from Willy Russell's play about a corrupt police officer, "Blood Brothers." K.C. volunteered to read the part of the officer, calling him "the pig."

English teacher Kathleen Matlack scolded K.C., who apologized, the lawsuit says.

Later that day, the school called K.C.'s mother to say K.C. would undergo a HIB (harassment, intimidation and bullying) investigation for her "pig" remark. Officials said a fellow classmate, who was a member of the class but not in the room at the time, could be offended by the comment because their parent is a police officer.

During a meeting to address the comment, O'Leary and HIB specialist Jennifer Spukes allegedly compared calling an officer "pig" to the "casual use" of slurs to describe blacks or homosexuals. Officials asked how she would feel if those words were used to describe her, the lawsuit says.

J.G., the student's mother who filed the suit on her behalf, was not allowed in the room during the investigation, the lawsuit says. J.G. instructed her daughter to record the meeting, unbeknownst to investigators. Patch has not reviewed those recordings.

K.C. was given a one-day in-school suspension for committing an "unintentional HIB offense."
New Jersey's HIB law covers anything that could reasonably be perceived as targeting someone at school based on their "race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, or a mental, physical or sensory [handicap] disability, or by any other distinguishing characteristic."

After she served the suspension, a letter was sent home saying no violation had been found. Then, J.G. was told the letter was sent in error and a HIB offense had actually been committed, the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit says no report was ever given to J.G., and that there was little documentation of the incident in K.C.'s student records.

This was not the first time K.C. had clashed with administrators, the suit says.

During a March 8, 2017, meeting between K.C. and assistant principal Kevin O'Leary to discuss a conversations between students about guns and violence, O'Leary allegedly told K.C. "all lives matter" in reference to the Black Lives Matter movement.

When K.C. disagreed with the statement as a misunderstanding of the movement, O'Leary allegedly made comments about some people having light enough skin to "pass," the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit says K.C. thought the remarks were in reference to her own skin-color, as a biracial woman. She took the conversation to mean she shouldn't talk about Black Lives Matter in school, but not that she was in trouble.

According to the lawsuit, the comments made by O'Leary, Matlack and Spukes have prevented K.C. from attending school.

"K.C. has shown signs of school avoidance since the incident, has dropped out of extracurricular activities, and her grades have declined. As a direct consequence of the above described incidents, K.C. is no longer able to access the benefit of a public-school education in Hackettstown," the suit says.

K.C. and her mother are seeking compensatory and punitive damages as well as court costs and attorney fees during a jury trial.

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