Tennessee
Middle Tennessee parents sue Williamson County school board, claim child was unfairly expelled, punished
The parents of an Independence High School student are suing the Williamson County school board and District Attorney Stacey Edmondson after they say their child was unfairly expelled and punished under a districtwide zero tolerance policy.
The case is the latest filing against the board regarding the zero tolerance policy, passed in 2023 as a result of the Covenant School shooting in Nashville. A second case, filed May 21 in the U.S. District Court’s Middle Tennessee district at Nashville, involves two middle school students and is also pending.
The Williamson County school board declined to comment for this story, citing the pending litigation.
Attempts to reach Edmondson for comment on this story were not successful.
The newest lawsuit, filed Aug. 16 by Julie and Scott Wernert in the same U.S. District Court at Nashville, claims the couple’s son was criminally prosecuted by Edmonson’s office and was “humiliated before his peers, deprived of access to his classes and curriculum and made to suffer other indignities,” after he was expelled for allegedly doing a “Hitler salute” and making a comment about North Korea in a class on Sept. 11.
Under Williamson County Schools’ zero tolerance policy, any student found to have made threats, including speech, that a reasonable person could conclude would lead to serious bodily injury or death for two or more people should be expelled for a year.
But, no evidence has been presented, to date, showing that the boy actually made the salute or the comment, the 22-page suit said, noting that Independence High School Principal Nikki Patton is said to have shouted, “I don’t care, I want him arrested,” in response to the lack of proof.
The boy was subsequently arrested, strip-searched, taken to a Juvenile Detention Center and placed in solitary confinement, the suit said. It also adds that the use of the word “threat” is not defined in state law and as a result, “the lack of an intent element leaves a child who utters anything that can be even remotely construed as a ‘threat’ vulnerable to criminal prosecution and other dire consequences.”
That argument is advanced further in the joint lawsuit, filed on behalf of the middle schoolers in May. It claims both students were questioned and punished under the zero-tolerance policy.
In the first incident, a 14-year-old student at Page Middle School was accused on Aug. 10, 2023 by another student of making threats about having a gun in his backpack, shooting up the school and having a bomb at home, the suit said.
The student was placed on a 24-hour solitary confinement hold and, “was required to strip down and change into jail clothes while an adult male guard was facing away,” the suit said, also noting that the boy was incarcerated for four days and later placed under house arrest in his parents’ custody.
After appealing the punishment to the school board, Williamson County Superintendent Jason Golden concluded that the boy would be allowed to return to class, although he created a rumor “of a threat of a weapon” at school.
The second incident outlined in the joint suit makes no mention of a resolution.
It occurred on Aug. 22, 2023 at Fairview Middle School.
School officials determined that a 13-year-old student’s text message was a “Threat of Mass Violence,” the suit said.
In a text thread, shared with the court, the student was talking about plans for the week and responded at one point, “on Thursday we kill all the Mexico’s,” the suit reads.
The girl was taken to the Williamson County Juvenile Detention Center, where she was forced to undergo a strip search. She was also allegedly questioned by staff, who asked “if she had ever had sex, an abortion or suicidal thoughts,” the suit said.
The joint suit is seeking $300,000 in damages for both students and for the zero tolerance policy to be declared unconstitutional.
The Wernert lawsuit is also seeking $300,000 in damages along with the same policy designation.
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Things went sideways quickly at Lindsey Nelson Stadium on Friday as the No. 4 Texas Longhorns fell into an early hole and never recovered in a 5-1 loss to the Tennessee Volunteers that included another shoulder injury sustained by junior second baseman Ethan Mendoza.
After spending 15 games last year as the designated hitter following a shoulder injury sustained diving for a ground ball, Mendoza left the game in the first inning on a similar play, leaving head coach Jim Schlossnagle without much optimism that the Arizona State transfer will be able to return to action this weekend.
Without Mendoza in the lineup, Texas struggled at the plate against Tennessee ace Tegan Kuhns, who recorded a career-high 15 strikeouts in seven innings. Throwing 113 pitches, Kuhns allowed just four hits and one walk in his scoreless outing as the Horns ultimately struck out 19 times, leaving the bottom of the order without much production — sophomore shortstop Adrian Rodriguez struck out all four times he came to the plate and junior designated hitter Ashton Larson, junior infielder Casey Borba, and freshman center fielder Maddox Monsour all struck out three times apiece.
Junior right fielder Aiden Robbins did have two hits — a double and a solo home run in the eighth inning — but didn’t receive help from the rest of the lineup.
And sophomore left-hander Dylan Volantis looked human, a rare occurrence in his sterling career in burnt orange and white, allowing RBI doubles in the first and second innings and giving up another second-inning run on a wild pitch. Volantis recovered to throw three scoreless innings before redshirt senior right-hander Cody Howard pitched the final three innings, giving up two runs on two hits.
Texas tries to bounce back on Saturday with first pitch at 5 p.m. Central on SEC Network+.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) – State Rep. Antonio Parkinson says Tennessee’s two blue cities, Memphis and Nashville, should break away and form their own state.
“I don’t think the state of Tennessee deserves a Memphis and Shelby County…or a Nashville, Davidson County,” Parkinson said on Action News 5’s A Better Memphis broadcast Friday.
Parkinson proposed creating a new state called West Tennessee, which would span from the eastern border of Nashville’s Davidson County to the Mississippi River.
“I’m not just talking about Memphis, I’m talking about the eastern border of Nashville, Davidson County and everything to the Mississippi River to create a new state called the new state of West Tennessee, the 51st state, West Tennessee,” Parkinson said.
Proposal follows new congressional map
Parkinson’s secession pitch follows the GOP supermajority approving a new congressional map Thursday that splits Shelby County into three districts, dismantling what was the state’s only majority-Black district.
“So this is about accountability. We’re paying all of this money, yet you remove our voice, so that is taxation without self-determination, taxation without actual representation,” Parkinson said.
Tennessee Speaker of the House Cameron Sexton denies race was a factor when Republicans redrew the map.
“Look, at the end of the day we were able to draw a map based on population and based on politics, we did not use any racial data,” Sexton told Action News 5.
Sexton said Democrats did the same thing in the 1990s when they split Shelby County into three different congressional districts.
Secession requires state, federal approval
For Memphis to secede, it requires approval from the State of Tennessee and the U.S. Congress.
Parkinson said he’s willing to fight that uphill battle.
“Why should we stay in an abusive relationship where they’ve shown us the pattern over and over and over…where they do not see our value, and do not care about us,” Parkinson said.
This is not the first time Parkinson has suggested Memphis secede from Tennessee. He made the same call in 2018 after the Republican-controlled state legislature punished Memphis, cutting the city’s funding by $250,000, in retaliation for removing two Confederate statutes.
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