Overview
- The student's father filed the federal lawsuit in mid‑May seeking to undo the expulsion, a jury trial and damages after the district expelled the student in February.
- The complaint says the student placed about six two‑inch emblems with pro‑ICE messages in an East Career & Technical Academy hallway the day after a large district‑wide anti‑ICE walkout, and staff removed the emblems before classes began.
- Administrators questioned and suspended the student, and the suit alleges Assistant Principal Thomas Smith told the family the stickers were racist, compared them to a "burning cross," and recommended expulsion.
- The lawsuit frames the school’s actions as viewpoint discrimination, saying school officials did not discipline the earlier anti‑ICE walkout and instead punished the student because of his political message.
- The complaint cites Supreme Court student‑speech law and points to prior CCSD free‑speech disputes to argue the expulsion risks setting a precedent about when schools may punish student political expression.