After serving a seven-day suspension, Towson High School senior Parker Jensen returned to class on Tuesday after filing a lawsuit against Baltimore County Public Schools stating his constitutional rights were violated when the district suspended him while he was inquiring about missing American flags.
“I think it’s very important,” stated Sarah Spitalnick, a Baltimore-based attorney who filed the lawsuit against BCPS, on behalf of Jensen.
“I would definitely say it’s some kind of bullying,” Spitalnick said.
In the complaint filed on April 3, Spitalnick claims BCPS, America’s 22nd largest school system with a $3 billion budget, acted unlawfully when it suspended Jensen for a week. She said she believes the school district violated Jensen’s constitutional rights.
On March 28, Jensen withdrew from his class and drove to the Baltimore County Board of Education building hoping to speak with district leadership about missing American flags at Towson High School.
According to Baltimore County School Board Policy 6307 and Maryland Education Code 7-105, an American flag must be displayed in each classroom. But Jensen said some classrooms at his school did not have flags. He went to the Board of Education to find out why and recorded much of his visit.
With his phone camera pointed towards him, Jensen says in the video, “I have a Towson High School Lacrosse shirt on. I have my student ID.” But Jensen did not get answers. Instead, BCPS called the police. And the 18-year-old was told by Richard Muth, the school safety emergency manager, that he was immediately suspended for seven days.
“He was summarily suspended without any due process whatsoever, which every student in Baltimore County and Maryland has the right to and they stripped him of that within five seconds,” said Spitalnick.
When the police were called on Jensen at the Board of Education on March 28, BCPS threatened to charge him with trespassing. But as of late Wednesday, no charge had been filed.
Baltimore County Public Schools declined to comment on the lawsuit. But in a previous email to Fox45 News, BCPS said: “As of April 1, flags have been installed in the classrooms that did not have them.”
In the lawsuit, Jensen asks for his suspension to be vacated along with monetary relief from BCPS for damages. Spitalnick fears the suspension could negatively affect Jensen’s grades and future.
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“He got suspended for very little cause,” Spitalnick said. “He did nothing wrong besides try to bring forth his First Amendment right and really enforce a Maryland law, which is to have American flags in every single classroom.”
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