A North Carolina school is set to deliver an apology along with $20,000 to a student who was suspended for three days for saying “illegal alien.”
The student, Christian McGhee, is a minor, so a court hearing is needed before the agreement is finalized.
But a report from CarolinaCoastOnline explained the deal is to resolve a federal lawsuit that challenged the school’s punishment for his speech.
Court documents say an agreement is just awaiting a judge’s approval.
The report explained the 16-year-old who was suspended last year is “set to receive a public apology from the Davidson County Board of Education for mischaracterizing the student in a racially biased manner.”
The First Amendment fight erupted last year when the student, at the time a sophomore at Central Davidson High School in Lexington, near Charlotte, asked his English teacher whether she was referring to “space aliens or illegal aliens who need green cards” during a vocabulary lesson.
School officials attacked him for “making a racially insensitive remark that caused a class disturbance,” the lawsuit charges. The disturbance was a threat from another student reacting to his words.
The settlement will include an apology, but the parties have agreed that it will not be recorded or publicly discussed.
“Because Christian is a minor, a court hearing is required before the settlement can become final,” said Dean McGee, in an interview with the DailyMail.com. He is no relation, but is with Liberty Justice Center.
The deal also includes the board removing all references to racial bias that it inserted into his school record, and provide $20,000 in compensation.
The funds are to help with the costs of a new private school to which the student moved.
The lawsuit argued there was no legal justification for any suspension because his words were protected under the First Amendment. Further, the board refused even to respond to his mother, when she tried to appeal the suspension.
His mother had confronted board members at a meeting: “Two members of this board, too busy to hear a mother’s cry, yet not too busy to assault her character and one more attempt to hurt her child,” she said, naming Alan Beck and Ashley Carroll. “Through your reckless attempt to slander my name, you have successfully re-traumatized my family. Your weak attempt to assault my character has failed, but your malicious character has been highlighted. It is my opinion that two members on this board are highly corrupt.”
