Teen glues soda cans together to resemble rifle and gets suspended, MO suit says
_fitted.png "A teen made a “can art” rifle at home, then got suspended from school in Missouri, a lawsuit said.")
The mother of a teen in Missouri is suing after she says her son was suspended from school for posting a photo online of soda cans glued together in the shape of a rifle.
The lawsuit was filed April 10 against the Mountain View-Birch Tree R-III School District.
“The School District is aware of the lawsuit that was recently filed. Unfortunately, because the lawsuit involves a student, we are significantly limited in what we are legally permitted to share publicly. For now, we can only say that we have legal counsel, who will present our side of the story and defend against these allegations,” the district told McClatchy News in an email.
On Sept. 14, a 13-year-old boy posted a photo on Snapchat of Dr. Pepper cans glued together in the shape of a rifle, according to the lawsuit. The cans were glued together as a part of “a non-threatening creative art project,” the civil complaint said.
The teen was at home, using his own personal device when he glued the cans together and posted the photo, the complaint said.
The next day, the principal at the student’s school got a call from someone about the Snapchat photo. The principal called the student’s mom and told her the student would need to be searched the next school day before he could enter, the lawsuit said.
The next morning, the student and his mom went to the school and a meeting was held in which the superintendent said the Snapchat post “brought fear to other students,” according to the lawsuit.
The mom asked “how Dr. Pepper cans, regardless of how they are arranged, were threatening” and “that she had witnessed school officials and others post pictures of actual firearms (held by adults and school-age children) and the same were not considered ‘threats’ by the school district,” the complaint said.
The Snapchat post didn’t have any threatening messages and didn’t mention the school, school district or any other students, the lawsuit said.
“I get there is a lot of concern with all the school shooting in this world. However, my children have no access to our guns or weapons,” the student’s mom wrote in a Facebook post about the incident.
The student was suspended for three days, according to the complaint.
This was the student’s first offense of “cyberbullying,” the lawsuit said. The lawsuit said the suspension could “impair his ability to gain admission to top colleges and universities because schools assess applicants’ academic and disciplinary records.”
The incident also resulted in the student losing friendships and “false rumors” that he threatened violence against the school, the lawsuit said. He now suffers from anxiety and is seeking counseling.
The lawsuit is asking for an undetermined amount in damages.
