Family of murdered gay student sues California school district
The Ventura County Star reports that the family of a slain Oxnard, California eighth-grader is seeking unspecified damages in injury claims filed against the Hueneme School District and the County of Ventura. Larry King was shot in class in February, and a classmate has been charged with first-degree murder and a hate crime. Among other things, the family alleges school and county staff members failed to enforce the school's dress code against their own son. That put the feminine-dressing Larry at risk when staff members knew he had "unique vulnerabilities" and was "susceptible to abuse" because of his perceived sexual orientation, the claim says. The family says educators knew the boy was at risk because he had been subjected to death threats in elementary school. Larry had told friends he was gay, and he wore makeup, jewelry and high-heeled boots with his school uniform—something superintendent Jerry Dannenberg said he had a First Amendment right to do. Assistant Principal Joy Epstein, the only person named in the complaint, is accused of encouraging the boy to wear "women's clothing, shoes and makeup." She created an environment of "perceived safety" for Larry when "in fact she could not and did not protect Larry from the threats and ultimate death," the claim says. An investigation by district legal counsel Carol Woo found staff members had acted appropriately, Dannenberg said.
County government is accused not only of failing to control Larry’s dress at school but also of improperly supervising the boy. Larry was a ward of the court and living at the Casa Pacifica shelter for abused, neglected, and emotionally troubled children at the time of the shooting. Officials should have educated him there, where he would have been safe, instead of sending him to school, the complaint alleges. Casa Pacifica administrator Steve Elson said the county had stopped offering classes on campus in the wake of a federal law aimed at keeping kids in their normal neighborhood schools. Still, the agency would have tried to accommodate a student if school or county officials were concerned about safety, he said.
Source: Ventura County Star, 8/15/08, By Kathleen Wilson