Teen anarchist drops lawsuit

Teen anarchist
drops lawsuit
Student in T-shirt incident
decides to head out of state

Chris Stirewalt <cstire [at] dailymail.com>
Daily Mail Staff

Wednesday June 05, 2002; 12:45 PM

Former Sissonville High anarchist Katie Sierra has decided to not pursue her lawsuit against the Kanawha County Board of Education.

Sierra, 15, has instead opted to travel or perhaps move to Oregon for some time and will not be in Charleston when her case is scheduled to go to trial this summer, a lawyer in the case said.

"(The school board) doesn't like the fact that after all the time and effort that went into the case, they won't get a chance to present the case to a jury and have it concluded once and for all," the board's lawyer, Erik Engle, said today. "But obviously they're happy to see the case dismissed."

Sierra's lawyer, Charleston attorney Roger Forman has decided to drop the suit against the board for allegedly violating Sierra's rights by suspending her and not allowing her to form an anarchy club or wear a T-shirt with anti-American slogans in protest of the war on terrorism.

Engle said Sierra, who made international headlines with her protest and lawsuit, is leaving for Oregon soon with a Marshall University educator who has been tutoring her.

Shortly after the suit was filed, the school board decided to allow her to complete the year from home, via computer.

"Katie, I guess, decided not to live with her mom anymore and was living with or being home-schooled by a teacher from Marshall and they're headed to Oregon," Engle said. "(Forman) could have continued without her there for trial, but I guess they've decided not to do that."

Forman said he couldn't comment on Sierra's whereabouts, but said that he decided drop the matter for the time being.

The director of the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, which championed Sierra's cause, praised Sierra's efforts today.

"We continue to believe that the school violated Katie's First Amendment rights," ACLU Executive Director Andrew Schneider said today. "But we understand and respect the Sierra family's wishes in this very personal decision."

Schneider said that the Sierras want to put the matter behind them and are asking the media to respect their privacy.

Forman and the ACLU are more concerned with preserving Sierra's right to refile her lawsuit if necessary.

Kanawha Circuit Judge James Stucky is set to hear arguments on the proposed dismissal on June 21. The school system wants the case dismissed with prejudice, meaning that it couldn't be revisited. Forman wants the case dismissed without prejudice, leaving the door open for further action.

"This issue is one that can and will recur. This isn't a problem that is by any means resolved," Forman said. "We are talking about some very fundamental Constitutional issues of free speech here."

Engle said the board does not want the case coming back to haunt it in the future.

"After what they've gone through to bring this case along, it doesn't seem fair that it would be dismissed just so they could just bring it back when it was more convenient," Engle said. "This needs to be put to rest."

Writer Chris Stirewalt can be reached at 348-4824.