M
Mf1031
Guest
My daughter was suspended from school for 2 weeks and is now excluded from all extra curricular activities for 25 school days. She is an honors student in 8th grade and wants to be a writer. She wrote a fictional story which the administrators viewed as a threat. She used poor judgement by including real names of students and teachers in her school who end up (in the story) murdered in a Columbine type situation. While I understand that school administrators must be alert to possible threats to safety of students and teachers, my daughter would never willfully violate school rules and never in her (or my) wildest dreams did she think she could be suspended for this. They had her go for a psychiatric evaluation before they would allow her back in school. She passed this evaluation with no problem and is now back in school. I am worried that this error in judgement will follow her and maybe have an adverse effect on her future (college applications, etc). She did not threaten anyone. She has never been violent or had any other discipline problems in school. I believe that she has a right to write a story about whatever she wants and while I understand the school safety issue, I don't believe she should have been made to go through all the distress of this situation. How can I protect her permanent record and can I sue under "Freedom of speech"? Would I really gain anything by taking the school district to court?