Elite California Private School Sued After Expelling 5th Grade Student Over Rap Lyrics and Squirt Gun Emojis

LOS ANGELES – The parents of a fifth-grader at a Los Angeles private school have sued the school and its principal after the boy was expelled for sending emails with syringe gun emojis and rap lyrics to another student.

The lawsuit filed Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court seeks to overturn the boy’s expulsion from Curtis School. Payment of the boys’ attorneys’ fees is also requested.

According to the lawsuit, the school’s principal, Meera Ratnesar, unfairly punished the boy “without evidence that his email exchange violated school policy.”

“(The) decision to expel (the student) and ban him from campus is arbitrary and capricious,” the lawsuit said. Also included was a copy of a letter Ratnesar had written to the boy’s parents.

Court documents show that on September 5, the boy and his classmate exchanged emails that included lyrics from the chorus of the 2018 YNW Melly rap song “Murder on My Mind.”

The friend, also in fifth grade, said, “Waking up in the morning I have.” The boy replied, “Murder in my mind.”

More than two weeks later, on September 25, the students emailed each other during their shared first period math class and sent several squirt gun emojis.

During that conversation, the petitioner also said: “I hate you” and “You are still dead”.

“The emails between the two friends do not appear to violate any student conduct policies and the squirt gun emoji is available on the Curtis School IT system used by the students,” the petition said, further stating that no similar discipline has occurred. imposed on the second boy, even though he initiated the discussion based on the lyrics of the song in the earlier email exchange.

On September 30, the boy was called into a meeting with the principal and his classroom teacher to discuss his emails, but court documents allege the boy was not shown the specific emails.

Ratnesar met with the boy’s parents and told them he had been expelled from school and immediately barred from campus, the petition said.

Curtis School is a K-6 institution located on Mulholland Drive. Tuition costs $28,760, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The school has taught children of celebrities including David and Victoria Beckham.

City News Service contributed to this report.