An Oregon high student who was disciplined by school officials for wearing a T-shirt in support of President Donald Trump's border wall settled his lawsuit against the school district for $25,000, his lawyers said Tuesday.
Under the settlement, the Hillsboro School District, which serves a suburb west of Portland, must pay Addison Barnes $25,000 for attorney fees and Greg Timmons, the principal of Liberty High School, had to write Barnes an apology.
"I brought this case to stand up for myself and other students who might be afraid to express their right-of-center views," Barnes said in a statement.
Barnes was an 18-year-old senior on Jan. 19 when he wore the "Donald J. Trump Border Wall Construction Co." shirt to school ahead of a scheduled discussion on immigration issues in his "People and Politics" class, according to a complaint filed May 18 in U.S. District Court.
Barnes was told his T-shirt, which also featured the words, "The wall just got 10 feet higher," offended at least one teacher and one student, at which point he covered it up.
Barnes was then asked to either remove the shirt or leave the school. He chose to leave, and the departure was marked as a suspension. The suspension was later rescinded, according to the school district.
Barnes said the school violated his First Amendment rights when he was punished for the shirt.
"Everyone knows that if a student wears an anti-Trump shirt to school, the teachers won’t think twice about it," Barnes said Tuesday. "But when I wore a pro-Trump shirt, I got suspended. That’s not right."
The school district defended its action as intended to avoid any kind of racially-motivated confrontation at Liberty High School where one-third of the students are Latino. Some of the students have family members have been deported, the school district said in a statement Tuesday.
"Liberty High School administration believed they could reasonably forecast that Mr. Barnes’ shirt might cause other students to feel unsafe and could potentially lead to walkouts, altercations, or other disruptive actions," the school district said. School administrators “acted out of an abundance of caution on behalf of the student body to ensure safety."
An Oregon high student who was disciplined by school officials for wearing a T-shirt in support of President Donald Trump's border wall settled his lawsuit against the school district for $25,000, his lawyers said Tuesday.
Under the settlement, the Hillsboro School District, which serves a suburb west of Portland, must pay Addison Barnes $25,000 for attorney fees and Greg Timmons, the principal of Liberty High School, had to write Barnes an apology.
"I brought this case to stand up for myself and other students who might be afraid to express their right-of-center views," Barnes said in a statement.
Barnes was an 18-year-old senior on Jan. 19 when he wore the "Donald J. Trump Border Wall Construction Co." shirt to school ahead of a scheduled discussion on immigration issues in his "People and Politics" class, according to a complaint filed May 18 in U.S. District Court.
Barnes was told his T-shirt, which also featured the words, "The wall just got 10 feet higher," offended at least one teacher and one student, at which point he covered it up.
Barnes was then asked to either remove the shirt or leave the school. He chose to leave, and the departure was marked as a suspension. The suspension was later rescinded, according to the school district.
Barnes said the school violated his First Amendment rights when he was punished for the shirt.
"Everyone knows that if a student wears an anti-Trump shirt to school, the teachers won’t think twice about it," Barnes said Tuesday. "But when I wore a pro-Trump shirt, I got suspended. That’s not right."
The school district defended its action as intended to avoid any kind of racially-motivated confrontation at Liberty High School where one-third of the students are Latino. Some of the students have family members have been deported, the school district said in a statement Tuesday.
"Liberty High School administration believed they could reasonably forecast that Mr. Barnes’ shirt might cause other students to feel unsafe and could potentially lead to walkouts, altercations, or other disruptive actions," the school district said. School administrators “acted out of an abundance of caution on behalf of the student body to ensure safety."
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