May 13, 2003
Sue Your School
A tale of two recent lawsuits:
A Tennessee 14-year old is suing her school district because the school basically shuts down for three days while nearly everyone attends a Christian revival camp. As a pagan, young India Tracy declined the "voluntary" trip and
was called "Satan worshipper" and accused of eating babies...was taunted, found slurs painted over her locker and was injured when classmates assaulted her and slammed her head into the locker.
Which makes me wonder exactly what strain of Christianity they're learning at this camp. But in any case, Tracy has left that school (can you blame her?) and is suing because officials did nothing to protect her. Go get 'em, India.
Meanwhile, in New Jersey, student Blair Hornstine successfully sued her school district to make her the only valedictorian in her graduating class. Hornstine claims a disability, some kind of "immune deficiency" that requires her to be taught at home by tutors, and not have to take gym class. The other top students in her school, who didn't have such perks, found that their GPAs were weighted down by gym class and as such, were decimal points lower than Blair's. The school was prepared to name co-valedictorians, but that wasn't good enough. So she's got her title, and now she wants $2.5 mil for her anguish. To recap: She's not suing for equal treatment because of her disability; she's suing for special treatment, and to deny the honor to others.
So can the kids who had to take gym class countersue? I hope so. And why is gym class counted in GPA anyway? And what kind of speech will she give her class..."How I Manipulated the Disability Laws and Kept Two Of You From Infringing On My Spotlight"? Should be good.
Blair is going to....(wait for it)...Harvard to become....(guess)....a lawyer. I just hope this was all worth it for her.
So the lesson here? Suing your school is OK, sometimes. And some people were born to be lawyers.
Posted by michaelf at May 13, 2003 01:05 AM | TrackBackComments
Makes me think.. I should have sued my school! But I guess that's just the "in" thing now.
Posted by: D|VA at May 14, 2003 12:20 AM
I wonder what the statute of limitations is on these things; I think the fact that I had to take a test on the Iliad -- while Mr. Foley's English for Slackers class watched Monty Python & the Holy Grail on full blast in the next room -- should count for something.
Posted by: Michael at May 14, 2003 01:15 AM
It's all about the parents anyway. Isn't it always?
It was the parents of the other students who pestered the school board enough that they initiated the end-of-the-year policy change, and it was Blair's father who initiated the lawsuit.
Competition and jealousy at its best.
Posted by: Randell at May 22, 2003 03:24 PM
By the way, do you think it's fair to change a school policy, one that the board of education clearly approved, a month before graduation?
Posted by: Randell at May 22, 2003 03:27 PM
Do you mean that they changed the policy to allow the other kids to be co-valedictorians? If so, that's OK with me...I don't have a blanket objection to sudden rule changes, IF they make sense. Not like the NBA extending the first playoff round to make sure the Lakers could win.
But I agree with your main point. The parents are the ones mucking this situation up. The Oompa Loompas were right.
Posted by: Michael at May 22, 2003 11:41 PM
Pathetic. Really.
I was at the top of my class in high school (I am now a graduate student), and under Hornstine's rules, I would not have been awarded because I, too, took gym class and extra classes. Mathematically speaking, when you divide a number X by another number Y or Z where (Y > Z > 1) , the X/Y is going to come out smaller than X/Z. DUH! But my school was smart and reweighted the GPAs for those of us industrious kids who chose to take summer school classes. You don't see me suing the pants off my co-valedicator.
Three things come to mind in this case, after the sheer absurdity of it all.
1. The first thing I realized about college was that once I got there, no one gave a damn what rank I was in high school. I was at a top tier university. Everybody and their roommate was ranked in the top 10, usually in the top 5. Hornstine's pyrrhic vitory should teach her the same, except that instead of being indifferent to her ranking, people will shun her for it.
2. Harvard is WEAK. Stanford is WEAK. Grade infation and whiny admits make those schools WEAK. Come to UC Berkeley, a level playing groud whose faculty won't wet-nurse the froshies.
3. I'm glad this kid is pre-law. You can tell she's got a bright future in corporate law ahead of her. And thank gawd she's not pre-med! She has shown herself to be self-absorbed, over-ambitious, and willing to lay to waste her competitors rather than help them out. A med school admissions committee can smell that sort of thing from a mile away. I wouldn't want someone like her caring for me in times of illness.
Posted by: Valedictator at May 31, 2003 06:49 PM
Ha Ha Ha! This annoying, supposedly "precocious" teen is nothing but an opportunist and a plagiarist. She deserves nothing, which is good, because she's probably not going to Harvard anymore. Even if she does go, she'll find that everyone ostracises her because she's such a little bitch.
Posted by: eyerefract at June 9, 2003 04:24 PM
I went to Moorestown High School and one of my friends now teaches there. This poor "disabled" girl who wasn't able to attend classes all day or go to gym class apparently had no problem partying hard during the week long senior class trip. Hmm...I wonder how one goes about concocting such a convenient disability?
Posted by: Xiola at June 10, 2003 04:35 PM
I had read that too, Xiola...pretty sad.
Now it seems Blair's going to skip her graduation. LawyerDad's letter to the school board says "... The hostile environment at the school has traumatized Blair both physically and emotionally...".
People of Moorestown, line up. Subpoenas will be issued on the right.
Posted by: Michael at June 11, 2003 10:23 PM
Doesn't matter anyways. Blair Hornstine has decided not to attend her graduation. So, why sue in the first place? So, not Moorestown High School will now be having a graduation with no Valedictorian speeh. Which would be nice for all those attending because graduations are such a drag as is. Altogether ridiculous, so glad I'm from the same county, gives me another thing to get pissed off about when I read the local papers.
Posted by: The Chidog at June 12, 2003 03:01 PM
anyone suing the hornstines for the money spent by the citizens of nj to educate her at home? she appears to lead a normal life except for education. if she went to harvard would she have been "home schooled?"
Posted by: joe mikus at August 14, 2003 11:16 AM
Ok I just happened to be searching the Internet on this umm how should i put it helpful site lol. I am 15 and a sophomore/junior in Baton Rouge Louisiana. Lets just start off by saying yes everyone knows Louisiana sucks at "ed-u-mica-shun" also I'm saying sophomore/junior because i started high school with 4 high school credits because i went to middle school. Technically if u have 11 credits your a junior but I don’t really give a crap anyways. So anyway to my point, I was born with Neuroblastoma-type of cancer and I have been paralyzed from my waist down since I was born. With that being said I’m the only person in a wheelchair at my school that is just physically handicapped and not mentally also. The only reason I have to go to the school I attend and not my neighborhood school (zoning laws in Louisiana) is because of the fact that I am in a wheelchair. The school I go to is the only one story high school in Baton Rouge therefore all the people in wheelchairs go there. Why do you ask why they haven’t made accommodations at my neighbor hood school and I quote "We could have the football player carry her up the stairs," was the thought on my neighborhood school principals thought on the subject. So that’s not really even the reason I'm here. In the bathroom at the school the handicapped stall has the door taken off so it will be more assessable to the special ED kids and their aids. Which I totally understand and everything but where am I supposed to use the bathroom? Well they have a cardboard refrigerator box that they have to close off the "hole" the left from taking off the door which I had to always have some annoying lady help me with because it is like twice my size. I dealt with it my whole first year there and I am so sick of it. About a month ago I refused to use the bathroom at school and my mom called the principal but he wasn’t there so she talked to the assistant female i might and principal. She said she would work on something and now a month later there is still nothing done not even one word from her. So if I have to go to he bathroom I check out of school. So my point being who ever found out all this information on the students suing their school district please contact me because frankly I think I have much better grounds for suing than the girl with the alleged disability.
thanks Katy
smiley6003@aol.com - ps if u email put suing your school so I will know were it came from thanks agian!
Posted by: Kat at October 6, 2003 04:23 PM
haha I ment to put a gifted middle school, yes because I went to middle school i got high school credits Louisiana isn't that bad---yet lol!
Posted by: Katy at October 6, 2003 04:26 PM
So... what does happen if you sue your school for punitive damages and you win? How does "the school" handle the payout? My guess is that local taxes are raised. Any answers on this one, send me an email.
Posted by: Ray at December 12, 2003 02:16 PM
Hurray for young people who HAVE a sense of what they think is right and defy peer pressure to argue it. Schools have entirely too much power. In our district there are two interpretations on school rules one for the rich and one for the poor. If one is too po to require a family attorney, they are used as an example for the slightest infraction. No attorney in the county will agree to defend them. On the other hand the rich do as they please. The world is an imperfect place and needs to be lawfully corrected.
Posted by: Lynette at January 8, 2004 01:22 AM
