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Witchcraft not OK in OK
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Oct 27 16:11 UTC 2000 |
ACLU of Oklahoma Files Federal Lawsuit on Behalf of Student Accused of
"Hexing" a Teacher
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, October 26, 2000
TULSA, OK--In a case reminiscent of the Salem Witch trials, the American Civil
Liberties Union of Oklahoma today filed a federal lawsuit charging that school
officials violated 15-year-old Brandi Blackbear's rights when they accused
her of casting a hex that resulted in a teacher's illness.
"These outlandish accusations have made Brandi Blackbear's life at school
unbearable," said Joann Bell, Executive Director of the ACLU of Oklahoma. "I
for one would like to see the so-called evidence this school has that a
15-year-old girl made a grown man sick by casting a magic spell."
While the ACLU has defended students' religious beliefs in Wicca and other
minority religions, Bell said the Oklahoma lawsuit is believed to be the first
in the country involving actual accusations of witchcraft.
In its legal complaint filed today in U.S. District Court for the Northern
District of Oklahoma, the ACLU said that school officials not only suspended
Blackbear for 15 days in December 1999 for allegedly casting spells, but also
violated her religious freedom when they told her that she could not wear or
draw in school any symbols related to the Wicca religion.
The ACLU lawsuit also accuses school officials of violating the young woman's
due process rights when, in the spring of 1999, they suspended her for 19 days
over the content of private writings taken from her book bag. Officials had
searched her possessions based on a rumor that Blackbear was carrying a gun,
although no weapon of any sort was ever found. To date, school officials have
not returned Blackbear's writings to her.
Before these incidents, the ACLU complaint said, Brandi Blackbear had no
discipline problems and had a perfect attendance record. Since being accused,
she has "suffered continuous ridicule and humiliation," and "become an outcast
among her fellow students," according to the complaint. She has also fallen
behind in her school work because of the suspensions.
"It's hard for me to believe that in the year 2000 I am walking into court
to defend my daughter against charges of witchcraft brought by her own
school," said Timothy Blackbear. "But if that's what it takes to clear her
record and get her life back to normal, that's what we'll do."
The ACLU is seeking an undisclosed amount of punitive and financial damages
on the Blackbear family's behalf, a declaration that the school violated the
student's rights, an injunction preventing the school from banning the wearing
of any non-Christian religious paraphernalia and an order expunging her school
record.
"The actions of the school have inflicted severe emotional damage on a very
sensitive young woman. This lawsuit will allow her to reclaim some of her
self-esteem by vindicating the violation of her rights in a court of law,"
said John M. Butler, an ACLU cooperating attorney.
The case is Blackbear v. Union Public School Independent District No. 9, et
al. Defendants named in the lawsuit are Union Eighth Grade Center Principal
Jack Ojala, Speech Therapist/Counselor Catherine Miller, Union High School
Assistant Principal Charlie Bushyhead and Counselor Sandy Franklin.
The Blackbear family is represented by ACLU cooperating attorneys John M.
Butler and Aundrea R. Smith of Tulsa.
Although today's case may well be the first in which a student has been
accused of actually using witchcraft against a teacher, the ACLU has defended
other students who have professed interest in Wicca. In March 1999, a Michigan
school settled a lawsuit brought by the state ACLU on behalf of a Wiccan
student who was not allowed to wear a pentacle, a symbol of the Wicca
religion.
The Wicca religion has been recognized in United States courts and by the
United States Army Chaplain's Handbook. It stresses individual enlightenment
and Celebrates the seasons and the four elements: earth, wind, fire and water.
Proselytizing is forbidden.
The ACLU complaint is available online at
www.aclu.org/court/blackbear_complaint.html.
===
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF OKLAHOMA
Case No.
ATTORNEY LIEN CLAIMED
JURY TRIAL DEMANDED
___________________________________________________
BRANDI BLACKBEAR a minor, acting by and through her guardians TIMOTHY
BLACKBEAR, her father and TONI BLACKBEAR, her mother,
Plaintiffs,
vs.
UNION PUBLIC SCHOOL INDEPENDENT DISTRICT NO. 9, Tulsa County, Tulsa, Oklahoma,
JACK OJALA, in his individual and official capacity, CATHERINE MILLER, in her
individual and official capacity, CHARLIE BUSHYHEAD, in his individual and
official capacity, SANDY FRANKLIN, in her official capacity, PHILIP BARR, in
his individual and official capacity, WILLIAM BRUNER, in his individual and
official capacity, DEREK RADER, in his individual and official capacity, FRANK
SPIEGLEBERG, in his individ ual and official capacity, and JAMES WILLIAMS,
in his individual and official capacity,
Defendants.
___________________________________________________
COMPLAINT
I
COMES NOW the Plaintiff, Brandi Blackbear, through her guardians and next
friend, Timothy Blackbear, her father, and Toni Blackbear, her mother, by and
through their counsel of record, John Mack Butler and Aundrea R. Smith, for
the firm John Mack Butler and Associates, and for their cause of action
against the Defendants, would show the Court as follows:
Jurisdiction and Venue
II
This action arises under the Constitution of the United States, particularly
the First, Fourth, Fifth, Ninth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution
of the United States, and under the laws of the United States, particularly
the Civil Rights Act, Title 42 U.S.C.__ 1983 and 1985.
III
The jurisdiction of this Court is invoked under the provisions of Title 28
U.S.C. __ 1331 and 1343.
IV
Venue is properly placed in this District Court pursuant to Title 28 U.S.C.
_ 1391.
Parties
V
The Plaintiff, Brandi Blackbear, is a fifteen-year-old female residing in the
City of Tulsa who is presently enrolled at Tulsa Union Public Schools. Timothy
Blackbear is the father of Brandi Blackbear, and Toni Blackbear is the mother
of Brandi Blackbear, serving as next friend and guardian ad litem for the
purposes of this action. The Plaintiffs are now, and at all times mentioned,
citizens of the United States of America and residents of Tulsa County,
Oklahoma.
VI
1. Union Public School Independent District No. 9, Tulsa County is a publicly
funded school responsible for the education, welfare and well-being of all
of its students. It is also the employer of all of the other Defendants listed
herein. Defendant is also responsible for establishing its policies and
procedures and the guidelines established and followed by its employees and
is therefore a proper defendant in this case.
2. Defendant Jack Ojala is the Principal at the Union Eighth Grade Center,
and is sued both in his individual and official capacity, and is responsible
for establishing and implementing both official and unofficial procedures and
guidelines for the eighth grade at all times pertinent hereto.
3. Defendant Catherine Miller is a speech therapist and counselor at the Union
Eighth Grade Center, and is being sued in her individual and official capacity
and was directly involved with Principal Jack Ojala in violating the
Plaintiff's civil rights.
4. Defendant Charlie Bushyhead is Assistant Principal at Union Intermediate
High School, and is sued in his individual and official capacity as an
employee of Union Public School Independent District No. 9, Tulsa County, and
was responsible for making policy and determining procedure and the following
of the policies, both written and non-written, of the Union Public Schools.
5. Defendant Sandy Franklin is a counselor employed by the Union Public School
Independent District No. 9 and is sued in her individual and official
capacity.
6. Defendants Philip Barr, William Bruner, Derek Rader, Frank Spiegelberg,
and James Williams are members of the school board of Tulsa Union Public
Schools with the responsibility of public schools within Tulsa Union
Independent School District No. 9 and are empowered to oversee the
disciplining of pupils. They are being sued in both their official and
individual capacity.
Cause of Action
VII
1. For a considerable period of time prior to April 28, 1999, the Plaintiff
Brandi Blackbear had been an aspiring creative writer. She had spent a lot
of time studying the novelist Stephen King and wanted to be able to write the
same type of fictional horror stories that King writes. She had several
notebooks containing short stories that she had written, or ideas that an
aspiring young author would put down on paper and try to develop to further
her career and future as a fiction writer.
2. The first incident surrounding and giving cause to the Plaintiff's civil
rights cause of action occurred shortly after the Columbine High School
incident in Littleton, Colorado on April 21, 1999. Much of the school
administration was acting very fearfully although they had no reason to
believe that a similar type of incident would occur at the Union Public
Schools.
3. Sometime prior to April 28th, 1999, Catherine Miller, speech therapist and
counselor for the Plaintiff, and Jack Ojala, the principal at the Eighth Grade
Union Public School, had heard by way of rumor that the Plaintiff had written
some short stories and that she had written something about an incident at
a school. They then proceeded to interrogate and investigate the Plaintiff,
Brandi Blackbear.
4. Plaintiff carried a backpack with all of her school books and supplies
which had been left in a locked room. On April 28, 1999, Defendants Ojala and
Miller proceeded to open her backpack and search her personal effects under
the guise of looking for a gun. Unable to find a gun or anything that could
be considered a weapon, they confiscated all of her notes, school work, and
private notebooks, read through many of the stories, and eventually came upon
a story involving a fictitious shooting incident on a school bus.
5. Upon reading the Plaintiff's fictional narrative, a literary work in
progress, Defendant Jack Ojala and Defendant Catherine Miller panicked and
assumed that Brandi Blackbear was going to create an incident, and that the
Plaintiff was a deadly threat to all of the students because of the incident
at Columbine High School.
6. After reading the Plaintiff's notebook, the Defendants Ojala and Miller
notified her parents and summarily informed them that she would be suspended
from school.
7. On April 28, 1999, at approximately 10:15 a.m., the parents of Brandi
Blackbear received a call from an official at the Union Eighth Grade Center
advising them of their need to come to the school immediately because of
problems with Brandi Blackbear. They had no previous notice, nor were they
advised of the nature of the violation until they arrived at school. The
Plaintiff was suspended for nineteen (19) days beginning April 28, 1999, and
was not allowed to return to school until the first day of classes of the fall
term of 1999-2000.
8. On the 29th day of April, 1999, the school held a kangaroo-type court, due
process hearing consisting of school employees and including those that would
not be fair and impartial to the Plaintiff. At that stage, the Plaintiff, who
was basically denied due process, and her parents were advised that it was
a waste of time for them to appeal the case any further. The Plaintiff's
parents did not receive notice of the appeal deadline until the day of same.
9. As a result of the school officials' actions, the Plaintiff became an
outcast among many of her peers and suffered extreme ridicule and harassment
by other students, some even asking the Plaintiff if they were on her "hit
list."
10. The Plaintiff enrolled in the 9th grade at Union Intermediate High School
at the beginning of the fall term of 1999. She continued to suffer
embarrassment, ridicule, and comments from other students that had been at
the previous school, who had heard the rumors started by that school's
officials. There were no other problems except that because of the school's
suspension, the Plaintiff suffered severely in the area of math and could not
properly catch up the next fall in order to continue with her education
without making bad grades.
11. After the semester started in the fall of 1999, the Plaintiff discovered
a book that had a section on Wicca in the school library. She started to read
the book, make notes, and do some individual study. She was seen by other
students with the book and some comments were made jokingly about her studying
the religion of Wicca.
12. On or about the weekend prior to December 13, 1999 one of the school
teachers, a Mr. Kemp, had to be admitted to the hospital on an emergency
basis. The nature of his illness or disability was unknown to the Plaintiff
at that time and is still unknown.
13. The second incident surrounding and giving cause to the Plaintiff's civil
rights cause of action occurred on or about the 13th day of December, 1999,
Defendant Charlie Bushyhead, the Assistant Principal for Union Intermediate
High School, along with Defendant Sandy Franklin, a counselor at Union Public
Schools, sent for Brandi and had her come into the office. When she arrived
at the office, Defendant Bushyhead started being hostile towards her and
accused her of being a witch.
14. Defendant, Sandy Franklin, was supposed to have been a counselor and had
been helping the Plaintiff, Brandi Blackbear, but instead at this time joined
in the interrogation. Defendant Bushyhead and Defendant Franklin repeatedly
accused the Plaintiff of being a member of Wicca, practicing Wicca, and
casting spells on other people. Plaintiff, Brandi Blackbear, repeatedly denied
these accusations until such point as she was not emotionally strong enough
to deny. She admitted that she had been reading books about Wicca and that
she could be a member of a Wicca coven, although she had been heretofore been
studying Wicca independently. Plaintiff Brandi Blackbear admitted this only
because of the continued hostility and oppression by the Defendants.
15. The Plaintiff had a star drawn on her hand in ink, similar to the star
that is printed on the flag of the United States of America, with a circle
drawn around it. Defendant Bushyhead accused the Plaintiff of having a
pentagram or a witches' symbol on her hand.
16. Plaintiff, Brandi Blackbear, was advised that she could not use any kind
of emblems or any other paraphernalia that even remotely pertained to the
Wicca religion, although numerous students openly displayed other religious
symbols including the Christian cross and other items of religious
paraphernalia inside the school.
17. The interview culminated with Defendant Bushyhead accusing Plaintiff,
Brandi Blackbear, of casting spells causing Mr. Kemp to be sick and to be
hospitalized. Based upon the unknown cause of Mr. Kemp's illness, Defendant
Bushyhead advised Plaintiff that she was an immediate threat to the school
and summarily suspended her for what he arbitrarily determined to be a
disruption of the education process. Apparently, Bushyhead believed this
alleged disruption was due to Mr. Kemp becoming sick because Plaintiff, Brandi
Blackbear, had supposedly cast a spell upon this school teacher.
18. As a result of the action of the Defendants Charlie Bushyhead and Sandy
Franklin, Plaintiff was suspended for a period of fifteen (15) days to begin
on December 13, 1999, and was allowed to return to school on January 18, 2000.
The suspension consisted of five (5) days at home and ten (10) days under a
supervised suspension program.
19. The conduct and the conspiracy of the various teachers at Union Public
School has caused and continues to cause the Plaintiff an extreme amount of
emotional upset in that she has suffered continuous ridicule and humiliation
from other students. Because of the conduct of the Principal and other school
officials, she has become an outcast amongst her fellow students and does not
feel comfortable at the school. These experiences caused by the school have
caused her a great deal of pain, suffering, and anguish, and an inability to
really obtain quality education.
20. The actions of the school have specifically violated Plaintiff's First
Amendment rights of freedom of speech, due process, and the right to privacy.
The school has destroyed her personal writings and has refused to return her
private literary works that she had worked on over a considerable period of
time.
21. The action of the school have been a deliberate attempt to suppress any
religious inclination toward or expression of the religion of Wicca which
Plaintiff may have or desire she may have, and have been an attempt to force
certain religious concepts upon her and keep her from exercising her
constitutional right to freedom of religion.
22. This has been an ongoing act in that the Plaintiff will continue to suffer
and be persecuted unless an order is entered by the Court restraining the
school district from interfering with her natural creative ability of writing
and her desire to study and exercise any form of religion she desires without
interference of the school, so long as it does not interfere with the school
process or pose a threat to the safety or function of the school.
23. The acts of the Defendants have been a conspiracy to violate the
Plaintiff's civil rights, and these acts are so outrageous that Plaintiff
should be awarded both actual damages and punitive damages. Plaintiff has
suffered past, present and will suffer future emotional and physical damages
for which all of the Defendants should be assessed. In addition the
individuals sued should be assessed punitive damages for their deliberate and
indifferent acts in an attempt to violate this Plaintiff's constitutional
rights and their wanton disregard of the Constitution of the United States.
24. The Defendants have put much inflammatory and prejudicial language in
Plaintiff's personal school file which will continue to hurt and harm her
throughout the remainder of her life. That material should be expunged and
erased from Plaintiff's school records and the Court should enter an order
directing the school officials to erase and correct these erroneous entries
into her school record.
WHEREFORE premises considers Plaintiff requests:
1. The Court should enter declaratory judgments that the Defendants' actions
violate the United States Constitution, as set out in her petition.
2. Enter a preliminary injunction, later to be made permanent, enjoining
Defendants, its employees and agents from prohibiting Plaintiff from wearing
any religious item, including a pentagram in the form of a drawing or necklace
if she so desires.
3. Award Plaintiff her costs, reasonable attorney fees and such other relief
as the Court may deem just and equitable.
Respectfully submitted,
SIGNATURE OF COUNSEL
John M. Butler , OBA #1377
Aundrea R. Smith , OBA #18470
6846 South Canton, Suite 150
Tulsa, Oklahoma 74136
(918) 494-9595
(918) 494-5046 Facsimile
FOR THE AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF OKLAHOMA
JURY TRIAL DEMANDED
ATTORNEYS FOR PLAINTIFF BRANDI BLACKBEAR
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