[Great Hall of Rockwall] Mom sues over SCA yearbook pic.

[Kelli Quinn]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16175420/

Mom sues over rejection of yearbook photo
Senior’s picture with sword nixed because of school’s no-weapons policy

AP
PROVIDENCE, R.I. - The mother of a high school senior who posed in chain 
mail and held a medieval sword for his yearbook picture sued after the 
school rejected the photo because of its "zero-tolerance" policy against 
weapons.

Patrick Agin, 17, belongs to the Society for Creative Anachronism, an 
international organization that researches and recreates medieval history. 
He submitted the photo in September for the Portsmouth High School yearbook.

But the school's principal refused to allow the portrait as Agin's official 
yearbook photo because he said it violated a policy against weapons and 
violence in schools, according to a lawsuit filed Monday by the Rhode Island 
branch of the American Civil Liberties Union.

The lawsuit seeks an order that would prevent the yearbook from being 
published without Agin's senior portrait.

Agin's mother, Heidi Farrington, said she and her son believe the decision 
defies common sense.

"He doesn't see it as promoting violence," Farrington said Tuesday. "He sees 
it just as a theatrical expression of the reenactment community that he's 
involved in right now."

According to the lawsuit, principal Robert Littlefield told Farrington she 
could pay to put the photo in the advertising section of the book, but he 
would not allow it as Agin's senior portrait.

"That in and of itself demonstrates to us that there's absolutely no 
legitimate rationale for banning Patrick's photo," said Steven Brown, 
executive director of the Rhode Island ACLU.

Littlefield said he thought there would be less editorial scrutiny given to 
paid advertising space, and that an ad would not be viewed as receiving the 
school's endorsement.

The complaint says there is nothing in the weapons policy that would apply 
to the picture Agin submitted. It also says the weapons policy is 
arbitrarily enforced, noting theatrical plays at the school have included 
prop weapons and that the mascot — a patriot — is depicted on school grounds 
and publications as carrying a weapon.

© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be 
published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.



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twaddle or anything, anything, than nothing at all."

Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923)

Down the Rabbit Hole: downrabbit.blogspot.com

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