Student’s T-shirt considered offensive
Officials: Disciplinary action based on more than shirt’s message
BY VINCENT TODARO
Staff Writer

EAST BRUNSWICK — School officials have taken disciplinary action against an eighth-grade student whose T-shirt was deemed offensive by his teacher.

But it wasn’t the T-shirt alone that brought about the action, officials said.

The male student at Churchill Junior High School wore a shirt Dec. 6 with the message, “If you see the police, warn a brother.” The boy was sent to the office by his last-period teacher, who deemed the message offensive.

School Principal Mark Sutor then met with the student and asked him to remove the shirt, but the boy reportedly would not.

The school’s police officer was called in because the boy was “somewhat disruptive,” according to East Brunswick Police Lt. Robert Strempek. The boy was ultimately taken into custody and brought to the police station. His mother picked him up there later.

The police had not charged the boy with any offense as of early this week, but Strempek said police were still investigating the matter.

School officials last week found themselves clarifying what they described as misinformation that the student was suspended from school because of the T-shirt.

Superintendent of Schools Jo Ann Magistro issued a statement during the Dec. 7 Board of Education meeting, saying details could not be disclosed because the matter is considered confidential. Her statement was apparently in response to an article in that day’s Star-Ledger regarding the incident.

Quoting the student’s mother, the Star-Ledger reported that the Churchill Junior High School student was given a nine-day suspension for wearing the shirt to school.

School officials, however, said there was more to it.

“There’s more to the story than just the shirt,” said Trish LaDuca, coordinator of community relations and programs for the school district. “But it’s confidential.”

She also clarified that, based on district policy, the suspension could be “up to nine days,” not necessarily the full nine days. LaDuca could not release the actual length of the suspension given to the boy.

“The East Brunswick school district is issuing this statement in response to media reports which inaccurately assert a student within our school system was suspended for wearing an objectionable T-shirt,” Magistro said in her statement.

“This assertion is totally and completely inaccurate,” she said.

Magistro did not elaborate on what happened.

“While confidentiality requirements mandate that the school district not release any details of the incident, it can be said that a student is in the process of being disciplined for disruptive behavior in accordance with state law and school district disciplinary policy,” she said.

Magistro said that neither the words on the shirt “nor the student’s alleged First Amendment rights were implicated in this matter. Initial media reports to the contrary are simply not based on the facts of the matter.”

She stressed that “nothing further can be said,” and no members of the school board spoke on the matter at the meeting.

The school district’s dress code requires students to be “appropriately attired for school,” and states that students will be asked to change their clothing if they do not comply with the guidelines.

“We consider modesty, cleanliness, health/hygiene and safety as characteristics of appropriate dress. It is expected that students avoid wearing any clothing or related items disruptive to the educational process,” the code reads.

The policy goes into specifics on types of articles that are prohibited, from hats and sunglasses too tight or revealing clothing, but the administration may still determine that other items are inappropriate.

“At times, clothing that adheres to the above guidelines may still be inappropriate because it is distracting, revealing or offensive,” the policy states.

Penalties defined are parental notification for a first offense, detention for a second offense, and disciplinary action for a third.