It has been exactly eight months since four students were sent home from school in Morgan Hill for non-violation of the dress code. As a reminder, this is the case of four boys who wore T-shirts festooned with the American flag to school in Live Oak on Cinco de Mayo. The principal at the time Nick Boden, and former assistant principal Miguel Rodriguez, sent them home after they refused to turn their “incendiary” shirts inside-out. Then the parents sued.

Now the Morgan Hill Unified School Board is asking that the case against it be dismissed by challenging the constitutionality of the case. According to Article III, courts cannot hear cases that do not pose a controversy. The school district, they argue, does not prohibit patriotic clothing, and neither the principal or assistant principal are employed by the district anymore. While they agree that a case can still be brought against Boden and Rodriguez, they want no part of it.

The plaintiffs argue that the school district violated the boys’ First Amendment rights and that the school district’s policy lay behind Boden’s decision to suspend the students. They want to see a formal policy in place that would ensure students that the case does not repeat itself in the future. The school district responds that the matter was already taken care of with Boden’s retirement. They then claim that the parents are simply using the plaintiffs are using the courts to further their political agenda. It now remains for the U.S. District Court in San Jose to decide.
Read More at the Morgan Hill Times.