Local News in Brief : Boy Sues Over Earring
Jimmy Lee Peters, 15, thinks the much publicized gang problem has been blown “way out of proportion,” but when he was banned from wearing an earring to school because of it, that’s where he drew the line.
Peters, an eighth-grader at Stephen M. White Junior High School in Carson who was suspended for refusing to conform to the school’s dress code, has sued the school, the principal and the Los Angeles Unified School District.
“Just because a few bad people wear earrings, that doesn’t mean they should stop everybody from wearing them,” said Peters, who claims that he has never belonged to a gang.
School officials maintain that the dress code--which also prohibits the use of other gang-related accessories such as head bands, baseball caps, and red and blue handkerchiefs or shoelaces denoting affiliation with a particular gang--is necessary to maintain safety. On Monday, the school board upheld the junior high school’s policy barring males from wearing earrings.
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