School Revises Dress Code to Resolve Lawsuit
By Liesel Nowak

Media General News Service

(The Southern Legal Resource Center filed a friend of the Court brief, by invitation of Plaintiff's counsel, in this case.)

CHARLOTTESVILLE - An Albemarle County middle school has changed its dress code as a result of an agreement between school officials and a student who was disciplined for wearing a National Rifle Association T-shirt to school.

Neither side would reveal specifics of the new dress-code wording nor of the agreement, which was reached after more than a year of litigation.

The student, Alan Newsom, contended his right to free speech was violated when officials at Jack Jouett Middle School forced him to turn his NRA T-shirt inside out in April 2002.

Newsom had sought $100,000 in compensation and $50,000 in punitive damages.

Both parties released this statement Friday:

"The parties have reached a mutually acceptable resolution of this case. By this resolution, the parties recognize the rights and responsibilities of the students in the school system, and the School Board's continued support for its teachers and its administrators. The Jouett handbook is being amended to reflect the current state of law."

County Attorney Mark Trank, who declined to release the specific wording of the new policy on dress, said the new policy will be more specific and will reflect the ruling of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which said the school's policy, as written, was overbroad.

In December, the appeals court barred the school system from enforcing a dress code that prohibits students from wearing clothing that depicts images of weapons.

The court said that the policy, as written, is so broad that it could prohibit clothing that displays the state seal of Virginia, which depicts a female warrior armed with a spear standing with one foot on the chest of a vanquished tyrant.

Among other images that would be prohibited under the dress code are the crossed-sabres logo of the University of Virginia and the mascot-toting Pioneer mascot of Albemarle High School.

"The language reflects the court's ruling. It clarifies what may or may not be appropriate clothing or messages on clothing, which is what the challenge was about," Trank said.

A new handbook with revised wording will be ready to hand out sometime this week, Trank said.

Newsom and his father attended a hearing in U.S. District Court in Charlottesville on Friday in which a judge finalized the settlement. Fred Newsom said he was pleased that the wording would be changed, but that he could not comment further on the result of the lawsuit.

Newsom received the NRA T-shirt, which depicts the silhouettes of three target shooters, at a sports shooting camp.

© February 23, 2004, The Daily Progress.  Liesel Nowak is a staff writer at The Daily Progress in Charlottesville.

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