GUILTY EVEN AFTER BEING PROVED INNOCENT
Due process? What due process? We’re talking about the g-school monopoly after all:
A teenage girl has filed a lawsuit claiming the Fort Bend Independent School District violated her civil rights by punishing her after she received a citation for underage possession of alcohol at a private party.
The charges against Merrilee Littlewood, 19, of Missouri City, and 18 other teen defendants were dismissed for lack of evidence this month.
“They (the school district) did not give her due process. They punished her and made her take alcohol abuse classes without any hearing or even listening to her side of the story,” Littlewood’s attorney, Michael J. Stanley said this week.
…A key element of the lawsuit, filed Monday in Houston federal court, was that the school district punished the students without giving due process because the disciplinary actions were taken in April before the cases went to court in October.
…Simpson said the district denies all the allegations of the suit, saying no disciplinary action was taken, merely the denial of a privilege to participate in an extracurricular activity.
I love the 1984-version of g-school reality. They didn’t punish her her. They merely forced her to take extra classes and took away a privilege. The district would have been far better off with a spokesperson who knows better than to comment on pending lawsuits.
Your tax dollars at work, folks.