Kindergarten Suspension Suit Denied
Wed May 1,10:39 AM ET

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - A federal judge threw out a civil lawsuit filed by the parents of a kindergartner who was suspended for playing cops and robbers at school.

 
Scot and Cassandra Garrick sued the Sayreville school district in June 2000 after their 6-year-old son and three classmates were disciplined for playing the game and pointing their fingers as guns.

The couple claimed that the district and several educators had deprived the pupils of their constitutional rights to free speech, protection from cruel and excessive punishment, due process and access to public education.

The Garricks were represented for free by The Rutherford Institute of Charlottesville, Va., a nonprofit group focused on First Amendment and religious freedom cases. The lawsuit did not specify the amount of damages sought.

Steven H. Aden, the group's chief litigation counsel, said Tuesday that U.S. District Judge Katharine S. Hayden had dismissed the lawsuit.

Hayden, who heard oral arguments in the case last week, found that school officials may restrict violent or disruptive games. Aden said the couple plans to appeal the ruling.

"They have the right to be children. The school and the courts shouldn't censor their play — it's politically incorrect," Aden told the Home News Tribune of East Brunswick for Wednesday's editions.

School board members said they felt vindicated by the ruling.

"The court has affirmed what the board and district position has been all along, that we have the ability to make the decisions that are in the best interest of the children," Board of Education President Kevin Ciak said.

School officials said the four boys were on the playground at Wilson School during recess on March 15, 2000, pretending their fingers were guns and saying, "I want to shoot you." Some other pupils overheard the comments and reported them to a teacher