ACLU Sues Lacey School District For Gun Photo Suspensions

LACEY, N.J. — The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit Wednesday on behalf of two students suspended from Lacey Township High School for posting photos of firearms to social media outside of school. The ACLU-NJ called the suspensions a violation of First Amendment rights.

Defendants in the lawsuit include principal Gregory Brandis, then-Superintendent Craig Wigley, assistant principal Mark Angelo and LTHS anti-bullying specialist Craig Cicardo.

Two then-Lacey High School seniors — Cody Conroy and an unnamed student who was a minor during the incident — travelled to Galloway on March 10, 2018 to a shooting range on private property owned by Conroy's brother, the lawsuit says.

The students posted photos of the guns to Snapchat, according to the ACLU. One of the posts had no caption, and the other had what the ACLU called "tongue-in cheek text," which included "hot stuff" and "If there's ever a zombie apocalypse, you know where to go."

The ACLU's complaint states that according to the School District, a parent of another student reported the Snapchat pictures March 12, 2018. The parent allegedly said the picture made her child nervous to come to school, according to the ACLU.

"The image could not be reasonably construed as threatening or violent or otherwise posing any risk to the functioning of the school," the ACLU stated.

The district disciplined them with three days of in-school suspension and one Saturday detention, the ACLU said.

The Lacey Township School District did not return comment in time for publication.

Conroy and the unnamed students seek the following from officials, according to the ACLU:

• A statement in the two students’ permanent records clarifying that their rights were violated by their unconstitutional punishment
• An order for the Lacey Township School District that they will not discipline students for constitutionally protected speech outside of school settings
• Revisions to school policies to establish that the district cannot punish students for constitutionally protected speech that occurs outside of school settings

“When I was pulled into the principal’s office for something I shared with my friends privately, outside of school, over a weekend, it felt like I had no place where I could truly speak freely,” the unnamed student said in a statement.

“I’m filing this suit so that no one at my high school in the future has to feel like the First Amendment wasn’t meant to include them,” Conroy said in a statement.

Read the full complaint here.

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