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Teen suing FWCS over T-shirt
Elmhurst sophomore is taking on dress code.
By Mike Dooley
of The News-Sentinel
A 16-year-old Elmhurst High School sophomore and his father are suing Fort Wayne Community Schools over a dress code policy that saw the boy suspended for wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the likeness of an M-16 rifle and the text of the Marine Corps creed.
The creed, written by a Marine Corps general after the attack on Pearl Harbor, focuses on the relationship between a Marine and his or her rifle, and is also known as "My Rifle."
Nathan Griggs and his father, David, brought the suit in U.S. District Court against the school system, its board of trustees, Wendy Robinson, school superintendent, and Lillian Lowery, Elmhurst/North Side area administrator. They are asking the schools be permanently barred from enforcing what they call the offending provisions of the dress code.
The student and his father are being supported by the Rutherford Institute, a Charlottesville, Va., organization that opposes "zero-tolerance" policies used by schools and other institutions. The institute has in the past brought other legal challenges involving distribution of a religious newspaper in a junior high school.
The local lawsuit said Nathan Griggs wore the T-shirt to school March 17, 2003, and was told by an official he would be disciplined if he wore it again. The suit said he believed the shirt was protected under the First Amendment, and wore it again the next day.
At that point, the lawsuit said Elmhurst Principal Laura Taliaferro ordered the teen to serve an in-school suspension and told him he would be given an out-of-school suspension if he wore it again. Taliaferro, the suit said, told David Griggs the shirt was "inappropriate for the school setting."
The dress code, the suit said, is overly broad and prohibits what it called clearly protected speech such as the text on the T-shirt. The code is so strict, the lawsuit said, that it would prevent a student from wearing a shirt featuring the city of Fort Wayne seal because that seal includes a sword.
FWCS spokeswoman Deborah Morgan said it is the schools' policy to decline comment on pending lawsuits.
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When my wife and I have our first child, his/her first t-shirt will have Molon Labe emblazoned on the front...
And I'll make him/her wear it every day.
Elmhurst sophomore is taking on dress code.
By Mike Dooley
of The News-Sentinel
A 16-year-old Elmhurst High School sophomore and his father are suing Fort Wayne Community Schools over a dress code policy that saw the boy suspended for wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the likeness of an M-16 rifle and the text of the Marine Corps creed.
The creed, written by a Marine Corps general after the attack on Pearl Harbor, focuses on the relationship between a Marine and his or her rifle, and is also known as "My Rifle."
Nathan Griggs and his father, David, brought the suit in U.S. District Court against the school system, its board of trustees, Wendy Robinson, school superintendent, and Lillian Lowery, Elmhurst/North Side area administrator. They are asking the schools be permanently barred from enforcing what they call the offending provisions of the dress code.
The student and his father are being supported by the Rutherford Institute, a Charlottesville, Va., organization that opposes "zero-tolerance" policies used by schools and other institutions. The institute has in the past brought other legal challenges involving distribution of a religious newspaper in a junior high school.
The local lawsuit said Nathan Griggs wore the T-shirt to school March 17, 2003, and was told by an official he would be disciplined if he wore it again. The suit said he believed the shirt was protected under the First Amendment, and wore it again the next day.
At that point, the lawsuit said Elmhurst Principal Laura Taliaferro ordered the teen to serve an in-school suspension and told him he would be given an out-of-school suspension if he wore it again. Taliaferro, the suit said, told David Griggs the shirt was "inappropriate for the school setting."
The dress code, the suit said, is overly broad and prohibits what it called clearly protected speech such as the text on the T-shirt. The code is so strict, the lawsuit said, that it would prevent a student from wearing a shirt featuring the city of Fort Wayne seal because that seal includes a sword.
FWCS spokeswoman Deborah Morgan said it is the schools' policy to decline comment on pending lawsuits.
---------------------
When my wife and I have our first child, his/her first t-shirt will have Molon Labe emblazoned on the front...
And I'll make him/her wear it every day. 
