Student Files Suit Against School District Over First Amendment Rights

Student Files Suit Against School District Over First Amendment Rights
By Geofree Capodanno

Susan Taylor, a junior at Columbia High School located in Maplewood, is involved in a legal battle over her First Amendment right to free expression with the School District of Maplewood/South Orange. Taylor filed a suit against the School District in Newark, NJ federal court on June 26, 2000 and is also fighting to have a three-week suspension from Columbia lifted as well.

On May 10, 2000, Taylor attended her classes at Columbia High School wearing a shirt that contained the phrase “Proud to be an Atheist”. When she reached her third-period class, she was confronted about the shirt by her history teacher, David Kasper. Kasper, a 22- year educator at Columbia, sent Taylor to the principal’s office due to the shirt’s content. “Only a couple of people even noticed the shirt,” said Taylor. “I made it through two classes before Mr. Jasper even saw me.” She also claims that Kasper stated she was “going straight to hell” before she was instructed to see the principal.

Principal Jan Gorlin at first requested, but then demanded, that Taylor change her shirt in the girls’ locker room. At this time, Gorlin allegedly explained to Taylor that “we all believe in God at this school-there’s no room for someone like you here,” even though Columbia is a public high school. Taylor states, “I couldn’t believe he said that. I was just trying to express a different point of view.” In a telephone statement, Gorlin stated, “I never said that to Susan (Taylor). I’ve been an educator for nearly 30 years. I would never hurt a student like that.”

When she refused to change her shirt, Gorlin contacted Taylor’s parents and then had a security guard remove her from the building. According to the suit, Taylor claimed that the security guard pushed and shoved her until she was forced out of the building. Taylor was then given a three-week suspension, which was upheld by the School District, who believes that the right to run the school and maintain its order is the responsibility of the school officials.

Taylor cited Tinker v. Des Moines School District, a case involving public school students who were suspended for wearing black armbands in a non-disruptive and silent protest of America’s involvement pertaining to the Vietnam War. She claimed that her shirt was not disruptive with classes and only caused a few comments from other students. When asked about the current case, the District’s attorney Eileen Bauer stated, “The courts have no authority to manage the day-to-day operations of a school.”

Susan Taylor is suing to overturn her suspension while seeking $1 million in compensatory damages and $2.5 in punitive damages from the School District. Taylor’s attorney, Nicholas Sullivan, says that both parties are in the process of reaching a settlement. Furthermore, Sullivan says that he rejected the offer by the School District requiring Taylor to serve the suspension and refrain from wearing the shirt to Columbia High School again.