TRI In The News

Civil Liberties Group Challenges Suspension

From The Richmond Times-Dispatch
Original article available here.

A civil-liberties group has filed a lawsuit challenging the suspension of a Virginia high school freshman who hit classmates with plastic pellets blown from a tube.

Charlottesville's Rutherford Institute says it filed the suit Wednesday in Spotsylvania County Circuit Court on behalf of 14-year-old Andrew Mikel II.

Along with being suspended in December for the rest of the school year, Mikel was charged with misdemeanor assault -- a charge that would be dropped if he completes a yearlong diversion program.

Rutherford Institute President John Whitehead said Mikel is the latest in a line of victims of school zero-tolerance policies that defy common sense and essentially criminalize childish behavior.

School officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.