WMBFNews.com | Myrtle Beach/Florence, SC | News, Weather, SportsCourt rules in favor of school district in 2006 dress code lawsuit

Court rules in favor of school district in 2006 dress code lawsuit

LATTA, SC (WMBF) - A ruling has been handed down in a student's 2006 lawsuit against the Latta School District after she was not allowed to wear clothing bearing the confederate flag.

School district Superintendent John Kirby confirms a federal judge handed down the ruling on September 9 in favor of the school district's actions.

"It reaffirms the right of the community to have and expect safe schools, and the decision supported the duty of the local school board to develop appropriate policy to demand a safe school environment and it proved the school administration carried out school dress code policies fairly appropriately and legally to maintain a safe school environment," reads the case's summary judgment.

Then 15-year-old Candice Hardwick filed the lawsuit after claiming her first amendment rights were violated in 2003 when she was told she was not allowed to wear confederate flag clothing to school. The lawsuit, according to Kirby, was brought against the school three years after the incident.

Hardwick, the superintendent says, is no longer a student in the Latta School District, nor was a graduate.

Latta School District policy outlines administrators have the right to ban any items of clothing that are unsafe, offensive or too revealing.

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