The uproar over how a Morgan Hill assistant principal asked a group of students to remove their flag-adorned T-shirts on Cinco de Mayo is now headed from street protests and television talk show fodder to a federal courtroom.
The parents of the three Live Oak High School students filed a federal civil rights lawsuit Wednesday in U.S. District Court in San Jose.
"It's about our First Amendment rights," said Joy Jones, the mother of 16-year-old Daniel Galli. "We started talking about a lawsuit from Day No. 1."
Kendall and Joy Jones; John and Dianna Dariano, parents of Matthew Dariano; and Kurt and Julie Ann Fagerstrom, parents of Dominic Maciel, are asking a judge to rule that what happened May 5 at Live Oak High School violated the First and Fourteenth amendments, and that the school district's policy regarding student speech is too vague.
The suit also asks for "nominal damages" and to award attorneys' fees.
The Morgan Hill Unified School District, Live Oak principal Nick Boden and