Ruling in uniform case lets teen back in school

David Kihara

Thursday, Nov. 11, 2004 | 11:14 a.m.

Kim Jacobs may be the happiest student at Liberty High School come Monday.

On Wednesday U.S. District Judge Roger Hunt granted Jacobs a preliminary injunction, allowing her to return to Liberty High School after she faced a series of suspensions beginning in September for wearing a T-shirt with quotes from the Book of Mormon.

The Clark County school district has maintained that Jacobs' attire violated the school dress code, which calls for students to wear solid-colored red, white or blue shirts with khaki bottoms.

When asked if she would attend school Monday wearing any clothing that would violate Liberty High School's dress code, she said, "I'm going to be myself and be an individual."

"I'm excited and a little nervous -- it's like the first day of school," she said.

Her father, Don Jacobs, said, "At least she's back in school without her rights being violated anymore."

He said when his family got the news Wednesday afternoon that Kim could return to school, "Everybody in the house screamed and cried."

The preliminary injunction states that Liberty High School must allow Jacobs to return to school Monday, and the school cannot discipline or suspend the 17-year-old in the future for failing to adhere to Liberty High School's school uniform policy.

In his decision to allow Jacobs to return to school, Hunt sidestepped the issue of whether or not dress codes in schools are constitutional. Instead, he based his decision to permit the preliminary injunction mainly on Liberty High School's failure to follow the Clark County School District's overall rules regarding mandatory dress attire.

Hunt, however, also included what he considered the best interests of Jacobs.

"(The Clark County School District is) presently threatening to force Ms. Jacobs to attend an alternative high school for students with discipline problems," Hunt wrote in his decision. "Given the possibility of such serious and emotional formative injuries, the Court easily finds the requisite possibility of irreparable injury to justify granting a preliminary injunction."

The larger issue addressing the constitutionality of mandatory dress codes is being addressed in the lawsuit filed by the ACLU in Federal District Court. The lawsuit, filed by the ACLU on October 28, states that the Clark County School District is violating Jacobs' constitutional rights by instituting the mandatory dress code.

"It is ironic that a school district that can't follow its own rules has been so bent on expelling an honor student for not following its rules. They themselves acknowledge that the rules need to be removed," said Gary Peck, executive director of the ACLU Nevada Chapter. "We at the ACLU intend to do whatever we can do for Kim and every other student that has been similarly harmed by this improper enforcement of the uniform rules and will ensure that they be made whole."

Bill Hoffman, the senior counsel for the Clark County School District, said the school district would most likely not file an appeal to try to stop Jacobs' return to school. He said that ultimately it is in the best interest of the student to attend school while the ACLU case is pending. For its part, the school district has not yet responded the ACLU's lawsuit, but it will soon, Hoffman said.

The Clark County School Board is currently gearing up for a Nov. 18 board meeting that will center on whether or not individual schools within the district will need to get parental consent before establishing a mandatory dress code. But the Clark County School District President, Susan Brager-Wellman, defended the mandatory dress code policy for Clark County on Wednesday.

"There are studies that show that dress codes raise achievement and discipline problems decrease," she said.

The vice president of the School Board, Larry Mason, said he was glad Jacobs would be returning to school.

"I'm happy for the student, and I'm happy for the parent. I hope it sends a message to all parents and students that they can say what they need to," he said. He said that the case was never a disruption to the school system. He added that he would not object to her returning to school on Monday.

"She has that right, and the courts are behind her now. The most important thing is that she return to school."