An Orange County father is suing his son’s highschool, claiming the teenager was in impact expelled for carrying a mesh face masks.
Aidan Palicke, a 17-year-old junor at Yorba Linda Excessive, has not attended lessons since January, when he was advised to not return to campus with no protecting face overlaying.
Chris Palicke’s lawsuit in Orange County Superior Courtroom says that the college’s “focused harassment and discrimination” led to his son’s “expulsion” right into a home-based research program.
The grievance was filed by Palicke and the California chapter of Kids’s Well being Protection, a non-profit group based by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that promotes an anti-vaccine agenda. It names Yorba Linda Excessive, the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified Faculty District and numerous district and college officers, together with six lecturers.
District spokeswoman Alyssa Griffiths declined to touch upon the lawsuit. She stated no college students have been expelled from the district for failure to adjust to the face masks guidelines.
For a lot of the pandemic, college students and employees on college campuses throughout California have been required to cowl their faces to guard themselves and others from COVID-19. That state mandate was lifted on March 12.
The lawsuit alleges Aidan Palicke was singled out in retribution for his dad and mom’ vocal opposition to face masks and different district insurance policies.
Chris Palicke, like some others who're in opposition to using face coverings, stated it's unhealthy – even dangerous – for kids to put on masks for extended durations. Aidan Palicke stated he finds it troublesome to breathe and that he can’t consider schoolwork when he’s carrying an everyday masks.
For almost two years, Aidan wore his mesh masks, as did many different college students and even some employees members, in accordance with Chris Palicke, who has pictures from indoor college occasions displaying many college students both carrying masks improperly or by no means.
In a Jan. 14 letter, Superintendent Jim Elsasser up to date households and employees on masks coverage: “Masks with holes and mesh masks aren't acceptable.”
Aidan Palicke stated in an interview Monday that the expertise has affected his education and his relationships with fellow college students.
About two weeks after he was advised he should put on a non-mesh masks on campus, he was allowed again to take ultimate exams. However he stated a number of lecturers pressured him to take the checks exterior when the temperature was within the 40s and he had not introduced a jacket.
“It was chilly. It was awkward. All of my friends have been me. My fingers went numb from the chilly,” he stated. “I couldn’t focus.”
In keeping with the lawsuit, the youthful Palicke has been ridiculed and mocked by different college students – generally on the encouragement of lecturers. Consequently, he left the Yorba Linda Excessive cross-country workforce, the place he was a captain, in addition to the observe workforce.
And though he may have returned to campus after the face masks requirement was lifted, Aidan and his father stated an excessive amount of has occurred since. They plan to take a look at different educational choices within the coming fall.
“I'd somewhat keep house and be alone than return to a bunch of youngsters who would make enjoyable of me,” Aidan stated Monday.
The lawsuit argues that college officers violated numerous training codes and constitutional rights whereas inflicting emotional misery. The lawsuit seeks, amongst different issues, a courtroom order barring the district from suspending or expelling college students from in-person instruction for failing to adjust to masks coverage.
Aidan Palicke stated he needs to make sure that different college students – notably youthful ones – don’t expertise what he did.
“I’m making an attempt to guard these youngsters who can’t defend themselves,” he stated.