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KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Kansas City's school district has settled a lawsuit over its disciplining of students who during a speech by Missouri's governor displayed the "Hands up, don't shoot!" gesture that symbolized nationwide protests of the deadly Ferguson police shooting of Michael Brown.
The school system said Monday it is not required to compensate any of the 14 affected students or pay the American Civil Liberties Union's attorney fees in settling the free-speech lawsuit filed in December, a month after Gov. Jay Nixon's speech at the Lincoln College Preparatory Academy. But the ACLU, which brought the suit on behalf of two of the students, said it was a victory for the students because the district withdrew threatened discipline of the students, and their permanent school records won't mention the matter.
U.S. District Judge Dean Whipple dismissed the lawsuit Monday at the request of both sides. Court records don't provide details of the settlement terms.
After 18-year-old, unarmed Brown was shot and killed last August by white police officer Darren Wilson in suburban St. Louis' Ferguson, more than a dozen students at the prep school held their hands up in protest on Brown's behalf during a Nov. 20 speech by the visiting governor.
The lawsuit said school administrators ushered the students out of the auditorium after they refused an assistant principal's directive that they sit down and instead stood in silent protest. The students were sent home and threatened with a 10-day suspension before the school's top administrators settled on having them serve Saturday detention, with the blessing of the district's superintendent, the district said.
The ACLU insisted the detentions violated the students' constitutional free-speech protections, although the school district has maintained the students were disciplined for repeatedly defying authority by refusing to sit down, blocking the view of various television cameras and photographers covering Nixon's appearance.
"The purpose of the students' action was to express the message that they stood in solidarity with the other protesters who had been active in Missouri and across the nation following the death of Michael Brown," the lawsuit alleged. "The students are now fearful of expressing their opinions and viewpoints while they are at school, even in a non-disruptive manner, because they reasonably fear they will again be punished."
The district said Monday it settled the case "so that it can continue to focus on increasing student achievement."
Nixon said at the time of the protest that he understood the students' concerns, noting they're "going to be — and need to be — a force, so that we can be a better state and better society after this."
"The students found a way to send a respectful message they knew could be unpopular with the governor or their school," Jeffrey Mittman, the ACLU of Missouri's executive director, said in a statement. "The ACLU is most needed at times like this because it is easy for those in positions of authority to go after messages of dissent."
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