A fifth-grader has been expelled from one of Los Angeles’ most prestigious private schools for sending a friend a squirt gun emoji and rap lyrics, prompting a lawsuit from the boy’s parents.
The Curtis School, a kindergarten through sixth-grade school located at 15871 Mulholland Drive in Encino, expelled the 10-year-old after he and a classmate traded emails referencing the YNW Melly song “Murder on My Mind” in September, the Los Angeles Times reports.
The boy’s parents are suing, saying the decision to expel their son from the $38,000-per-year school was “arbitrary and capricious.”
The parents’ suit notes that only their son, not the other child, was expelled, adding that “the school provided no evidence of a policy being violated or of the classmate feeling threatened,” the Times reports.
The two children actually “hung out during recess immediately after the Sept. 25 email exchange and also attended the school fair together at the Santa Monica Pier the following day,” the expelled student’s parents claim, as reported by the Times.
They claim he is a straight-A student with no previous discipline issues.
A spokesperson for the school issued a statement in response to the lawsuit.
“While we were disappointed to learn about the litigation, our priority is to ensure a safe and secure campus for all of our students,” the spokesperson said. “We are unable to comment on individual students.”
