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April 29, 2004
Ridiculous Lawsuit
This has got to be one of the more ridiculous lawsuits I've ever seen.
The mother of a Helen Tyson Middle School sixthgrader has sued Principal Curtis Spann and teacher Virginia Hargrove for their decision not to grant her son full credit for reading two Harry Potter books.
Luwalhati Admana Johnson, a Tontitown lawyer, filed a petition April 20 in Washington County Circuit Court stating that school officials did not award her son all the points possible for reading J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban as part of an accelerated reading program the 1,133-pupil school sponsors. Pupils in the sixth- and seventh-grade middle school accumulate points for reading books and receive prizes for their achievements at the end of the school year. Johnson’s petition indicates the child did not receive points because Hargrove and Spann determined the child did not meet requirements of the program.
What requirements?
She doesn’t say exactly what requirement he didn’t meet but alludes to the possibility her son was accused of cheating. By not receiving points for the Potter books, Johnson’s son will "graduate sixth grade without the earned points and recognition of an achievement much valued by the child," the petition states.
In addition, the petition says, "The rumor that the petitioner cheated will be deemed true, follow the child in the seventh grade and his older years, and his integrity remains destroyed."
Yeah, that definitely violates several Arkansas statutes. Not.
I can't wait until Judge Gunn (aka 'Hanging Judge Gunn' *) gets this one.
[The school's attorney] Harwell said Circuit Judge Mary Ann Gunn will either call a hearing or rule on the petitions already filed. Gunn should decide early next week, a clerk in her office said.
I'll just bet she will. The county should charge admission to that hearing.
I'd pay to see it.
*This should not be taken as any disparagement of Judge Gunn, who has a reputation as a tough, but fair judge. She just doesn't tolerate fools.
I wish we had more like her.
Posted by Rita at April 29, 2004 07:32 AM