A fifth-grader has been expelled from one of Los Angeles’ most prestigious private schools for sending a friend a squirt gun emoji and rap lyrics, prompting a lawsuit from the boy’s parents.
The lawsuit filed Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court came after the 10-year-old was expelled from the Curtis School for an email exchange with his friend containing squirt gun emojis and the lyrics to the YNW Melly rap song “Murder on My Mind.”
The Curtis School is an elite private independent elementary school in Los Angeles and has taught children of celebrities, including David and Victoria Beckham. The elementary school, according to The Hollywood Reporter, costs $28,760 per year.
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Interior of classroom in elementary school. Row of empty desks are in illuminated room.(iStock)
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The lawsuit, obtained by KKTV, alleges that the Head of School Meera Ratnesar unfairly disciplined the boy “without evidence that his email exchange broke a school policy.”
The parents of the 10-year-old seek to reverse the expulsion of the 10-year-old boy from the Curtis School along with paying the family’s attorneys’ fees.
“[The] decision to expel [the student] and bar him from campus is arbitrary and capricious,” the lawsuit said.
The boy’s parents are suing, saying the decision to expel their son from the about $29,000-per-year school was “arbitrary and capricious.”(Google Maps – Screenshot)
The documents state that the boys exchanged lyrics from the 2018 rap song, “Murder on my mind” on Sept. 8.
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The friend, also in the fifth grade, said, “Wake up in the morning I got.” The boy responded, “Murder on my mind.”
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Over two weeks later, on Sept. 25, the students were emailing each other during their shared first period math class and sent several squirt gun emojis.
A school bus arrives at George Mason Elementary School in Alexandria, VA on August 21, 2023. (Craig Hudson for The Washington Post via Getty Images)
On September 30, the boy was called into a meeting with the director and his homeroom teacher to discuss the emails, but the court documents claim the boy was not shown the specific emails.
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Ratnesar met with the boy’s parents and told them he was expelled and immediately barred from campus.
The school sent out the following statement to local media outlets:
“While we were disappointed to learn about the litigation, our priority is to ensure a safe and secure campus for all of our students,” the statement said. “We are unable to comment on individual students.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to the Curtis School for comment.
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Sarah Rumpf-Whitten is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business.
Story tips and ideas can be sent to sarah.rumpf@fox.com and on X: @s_rumpfwhitten.
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San Diego seems to have no solution to its illegal street vendor problem and it’s only getting worse in many areas including the popular Balboa Park and Gaslamp Quarter.
Local business leaders are frustrated following the January 2026 California appeals court ruling, which forced the city officials to entirely halt the crackdown on street vendors.
“It’s a disaster,” Denny Knox, executive director of the Ocean Beach Main Street Association, told the San Diego Union Tribune last week.
Local business associations say the return of food carts raises concerns over sidewalk access and public safety. Getty Images
An increasing number of street vendors are exploiting the court’s ruling and many don’t even bother to get a permit.
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Executive Director of Gaslamp Quarter Association, Michael Trimble, said that street vendors block the sidewalks, making it difficult for the businesses in the area to function.
“The lack of action has also led to an escalation of activity, including new vendors setting up tents and selling goods without permits, health approvals or accountability,” said Trimble, the Union-Tribune reports.
Organized groups of hot dog vendors have returned to the Gaslamp Quarter—bringing associated hazards like open fires, blocked walkways, and the dumping of grease into storm drains.
Popular tourist destinations like city beaches and Balboa Park are seeing a resurgence of street vendors. The San Diego Union-Tribune via Getty Images
“It’s so much of a slap in the face to merchants that have done things the legal way, the right way,” said Ruth-Ann Thorn, owner of Native Star boutique and Exclusive Collections Gallery in the Gaslamp Quarter, reports inewsource.
Officers can no longer impound vending carts and law enforcement in Ballpark District is restricted, SDPD’s Ashley Nicholes said in a statement, according to the Union-Tribune.
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“Recent court rulings involving the city’s street vending ordinance have limited what police officers can do to enforce street vending laws,” Nicholes said.
San Diego’s tug-of-war with street vendors started in 2018 when the state law decriminalized aspects of street vending. The task to draft a vendor law fell into the laps of then-Mayor Kevin Faulconer in 2019, then passed on to Mayor Todd Gloria in 2021 and then Councilmember Jennifer Campbell.
San Diego officials have instructed police and park rangers to halt enforcement of the city’s 2024 vendor law. Getty Images
The law, approved by the City Council in May 2022, banned vendors in Balboa Park, Little Italy, Ocean Beach and some beach areas during summer months. But, the merchants kept complaining about the lack of law enforcement and that led to the revision of the law in 2024.
The revised law made it easier for officials to impound vendors’ carts, limited free-speech protections, which didn’t include yoga classes on the beach and selling food.
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After an immediate backlash, a federal appeals court ruling in June 2025 said the city’s ban on beach yoga classes is unconstitutional as they are protected under the First Amendment.
A California appeals court in the case of Imhotep Mustaqeem earlier this year ruled that San Diego’s revised 2024 street vendor law violated state law by establishing “overly restrictive” geographic no-vendor zones and restricted operating hours.
Imhotep Mustaqeem, a licensed vendor who had sold snacks outside Petco Park since 2009, sued the city after police impounded his cart under San Diego’s revised 2024 ordinance. While a lower court initially ruled against him, the Fourth District Court of Appeal ultimately vindicated Mustaqeem and quashed the 2024 street vendor law.
