Saturday, June 05, 2010
A New York mother is suing the Schenectady City School District because officials at Oneida Middle School repeatedly suspended her seventh grade son in May for wearing a plastic rosary outside of his shirt in memory of his dead brother and uncle. Oneida’s principal considered the religious symbol gang-related and a violation of the school’s dress code.
The policy states that a student’s appearance cannot “denote, represent or be deemed to be gang related, included but not limited to bandanas, colors, flags or beads.”
The student’s mother, Chantell Hosier, insists that her son is not involved in gangs, and that the rosary belonged to her other son who died five years ago. The student’s uncle, who taught the student about the rosary, recently died of brain cancer.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Rosary Isn't Gang Attire, Family Insists (by Barbara Leonard, Courthouse News Service)
R.H. v. Schenectady City School District (U.S. District Court, Northern New York) (pdf)
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