Los Angeles: A 13-year-old Los Angeles girl who refuses to wear a school uniform has taken her fight to court, charging that school officials violated her civil rights by demanding she wear the blue skirt and white blouse.
Duan'ne Land claims that she has been harassed, humiliated and even "battered" by staff at Horace Mann Middle School despite a Los Angeles Unified School District policy that allows students to opt out of wearing a uniform.
"From time to time I was afraid of going to school because of what was going to happen next," Land told a Los Angeles Superior Court jury during her testimony on Tuesday.
Land said that when she gave an administrator a note from her grandfather asking to be excused from wearing a uniform the man "wadded it up and threw it on the ground."
The teenager's lawsuit seeks to bar the school from disciplining her over the uniform issue, along with unspecified monetary damages for violation of her civil rights and infliction of emotional distress.
Lawyers for the district concede that students have the right to decline a uniform, but say Land never made it clear that she was doing so and was not mistreated. They say she was never kept out of school or sent home.
During opening statements in the trial on Tuesday, Land's lawyer said that after the girl stopped wearing her uniform, staff members threatened to suspend her, refused to allow her picture to be taken for the yearbook and barred her from a Valentine's Day dance.
"The wrongdoing alleged herein has interfered with plaintiff's education and denied her civil rights in violation of the State Education Code, state Constitution, and the Constitution of the United States," the lawsuit charges. The trial is scheduled to last for five days.
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