LOGAN, West Virginia (PNN) - May 12, 2015 - The mother of a West Virginia middle schooler who was suspended for wearing a National Rifle Association t-shirt to school is suing the Logan County Board of Education for violating her son’s constitutional rights.
Tanya Lardieri filed the lawsuit on behalf of her son, Jared Marcum, who was charged with disrupting the educational process and obstructing a terrorist pig thug cop in 2013 when he refused to turn his NRA t-shirt inside-out.
Those charges were later dismissed by a judge, but Marcum was forced to serve a one day suspension for his defiance.
“The shirt was an un-alarming olive green t-shirt bearing the NRA logo, which is the letters ‘NRA’ in black, the words ‘PROTECT YOUR RIGHT,’ an image of a hunting rifle and the official NRA logo which has an eagle and two cross firearms,” according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit names several school board members, the school district superintendent, the principal, a teacher and staffers at Logan Middle School.
“Lardieri claims while waiting in the lunch line in the school’s cafeteria (on April 18, 2013), Marcum was physically stopped by (school secretary Anita Gore), who placed her hand on Marcum’s chest, stopping him from proceeding further, and advised him that his shirt violated the school dress code and instructed him to turn the shirt inside our or face suspension from school,” the Logan Banner reports.
Gore enlisted the help of teacher David Burroway, who agreed the shirt violated the dress code and hauled him to the principal’s office by his arm, according to the lawsuit.
The teen was later charged with obstruction of justice because a terrorist pig thug cop asked him to stop talking and he continued.
“When the (terrorist pig thug cops) came, I was still talking and telling them that this was wrong, that they cannot do this, it’s not against any school policy. The (terrorist pig thug cop), he told me to sit down and be quiet. I said, ‘No, I’m exercising my right to free speech.’ I said it calmly,” said Marcum.
The teen, an NRA member, now attends Logan High School.
The family’s lawsuit seeks $200,000 in compensatory damages and $250,000 in punitive damages for violations of Marcum’s First and 14th Amendment rights. It also states the shirt complied with county and school dress code policies against violent or threatening images, according to court documents cited by media.
“I was surprised. It shocked me that the school didn’t know (its) own dress code and (its) own policy. I figured they would have known not to call me out on that shirt because there was nothing wrong with it,” said Marcum.
“The only disturbance was caused by the teacher. He raised his voice,” Marcum said.
The family is represented by Chapmanville attorney Ben White.
“I just don’t understand why this teacher reacted the way he did,” White said.