Four years ago, the "Gifties" of Beaubien School lost in the principal's office. Then, this class of gifted eighth-grade students lost in U.S. district court.
Undeterred, Thursday the group went before one of the highest courts of the land, arguing their principal violated First Amendment free speech rights when he punished them for wearing T-shirts with the word "Gifties" on them.
"There's a certain point when you have to stick up for your rights," said Michael Brandt, one of 24 gifted students who sued their principal and the Chicago Board of Education. His mother, Irene Dymkar, is representing the students in the class action lawsuit.
But passion may not be enough.
"Why do people bring lawsuits for such trivialities?" Judge Richard Posner, a notoriously tough jurist, asked Dymkar during a three-judge hearing of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit Thursday. "Have they been harmed, these Gifties?"
The school serves both gifted students, known as "gifties," and "regular education students," who are known as "tards," the article says. Details here from the Chicago Sun-Times (via The Obscure Store). UPDATE: You can listen to the "entertaining" oral argument here.