SIMI VALLEY : Judge Weighs Date for T-Shirt Trial

Attorneys representing a 14-year-old Simi Valley student urged a federal judge Monday to set a January trial date for their 1st Amendment case against Simi Valley school officials.

But school lawyers requested that the case be pushed back until next May--just one month before Valley View Junior High School ninth-grader John Spindler graduates.

U. S. District Court Judge Irving Hill on Monday heard arguments in the case involving Spindler, but postponed setting a trial date until next week. Hill criticized defense attorneys’ request for a spring trial date and told lawyers the case should go to trial early next year.

“I am not convinced that very much more time is needed,” Hill said. “I want you to confer with each other and come back with a true schedule.”

“You talk about May,” he said later during the 2 1/2-hour hearing. “The school year would almost be over by then.”

Spindler was barred from attending classes earlier this school year for wearing patriotic T-shirts that did not follow Valley View’s strict dress code.

In late September, American Civil Liberties Union lawyers filed a federal lawsuit against school officials for violating the boy’s constitutional right to express himself.

The Simi Valley Unified School District’s five board members and Valley View Principal Don Gaudioso are named in the lawsuit.

Defense attorney Carol Woo filed a motion requesting that the trustees not be named as defendants in the case because they did not write the school’s dress code policy.

But Hill denied her motion Monday, citing the ACLU’s argument that board members took no steps to repeal the policy.

“We were disappointed that the motion was denied,” Woo said after the hearing. “We don’t believe the school board is a proper party in this action.”