LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Although Nevada has a law that allows students to wear certain regalia on their caps and gowns at school graduation ceremonies, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit on behalf of a student, stating that the Las Vegas-area Clark County School District isn’t following the law.
“For the fourth year in a row, we are again hearing stories about CCSD schools enforcing unconstitutional restrictions on students’ decorating their caps and gowns at their high school graduation,” the ACLU said in a news release. “Our clients and their families deserve the right to express themselves and celebrate their graduation.”
The law states that students are “entitled to wear traditional tribal regalia or recognized objects of religious or cultural significance as an adornment at a school graduation ceremony.” However, school boards and school officials can ban a specific item if it’s “likely to cause a substantial disruption of, or material interference with, [a graduation] ceremony.”
The lawsuit, filed on Thursday, said the graduating student wanted to wear the following items:
- A stole with the written message “Black Girl Magic” to represent herself
- A black and red stole to represent her time with the ACLU of Nevada’s Emerging Leaders program
- A pin signifying her membership in the National Honor Society
- The stoles and cords provided by her school signify her achievements at a local career and technical academy
- A cap decorated with small paper flowers, gems and crystals
The ACLU gave all the students in its Nevada Emerging Leaders program a graduation stole and pin to wear at graduation, and states in the suit that not being able to wear these violates the Nevada law and the First Amendment.
The suit contends that CCSD has not provided proper guidance to schools, causing individual schools to create their own guidelines.
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