BURBANK : Student’s $50,000 Claim Is Rejected

The Burbank school board has rejected a $50,000 claim filed by a 15-year-old girl who was suspended for wearing a sweat shirt imprinted with Old English-style letters that school officials regard as gang symbols.

The board rejected the claim by Burbank High School student Monica Marquez, who said she wore the sweat shirt Dec. 19 to mourn a classmate who was shot to death three months earlier. The shirt read: “In Memory of Kenny Caldera, In Christ Hands Now.”

District Supt. Arthur Pierce last month rescinded the two-day suspension. The claim filed by the American Civil Liberties Union said Marquez’s First Amendment right to free speech was violated and she was humiliated by the suspension.

Marquez’s mother, Ruth Cisneros, said she and her daughter soon will file a lawsuit against the district seeking unspecified damages.