Student Sues to Erase School Punishment
Posted on: Tuesday, 4 March 2003, 06:00 CST
Student Sues to Erase School Punishment
source: Associated Press Strange News
A middle school student expelled for playing with a laser pointer during class wants the punishment cleared from his record.
Mitch Muller and his mother, Lova Zahary, filed a lawsuit Friday in district court against the Valley Re-1 School District board. The suit seeks to clear Muller's record, and attorney fees and other costs.
"I just feel like we never got a fair shake from the school district," Muller's mother said. "Sure it shouldn't have been brought to school. But it's hard sometimes for 13-year-old boys to look ahead and think, 'It looks like a gun and I shouldn't play with it.'"
School district attorney Robert Cohn declined comment.
A teacher at North Valley Middle School caught Muller playing with the laser pointer during class Nov. 19 and reported him and two other boys to the principal.
Muller was expelled for one year, a decision that was upheld by the school board. He completed a six-week alternative program that allowed him to return to school Jan. 20.
Still, his mother wants his record wiped clean.
Muller's attorney, Todd Taylor, said an appeal hearing held by the school board that was closed to the public violated Colorado's open meeting laws, and Muller's right to due process was ignored when administrators failed to provide him with a written statement and other evidence before the expulsion hearing.
"There's no way of countering those in an effective way because they didn't give us access," he said.
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