California high schoolers awarded $1 million after ‘blackface’ claims linked to acne-mask photos – By Jonathan Limehouse (USA Today) / May 13, 2024
Two former California high school students were awarded $1 million and tuition reimbursement after they said they were forced to withdraw from the school in 2020 for wearing acne masks, which were interpreted by officials and community members as “blackface.”
The two former Saint Francis High School (SFHS) students, now 21 years of age, became the “posterchildren of racism” when a picture from 2017 of them from with acne masks circulated in June 2020 during the Black Lives Matter movement, the suit says.
“This case is significant not only for its groundbreaking effect on all private high schools in California, which are now legally required to provide fair procedure to students before punishing or expelling them,” Krista Lee Baughman, the former student’s attorney, said in a statement emailed to USA TODAY. “The jury rightly confirmed that St. Francis High School’s procedures were unfair to our clients and that the school is not above the law.”
The boys sued SFHS, the president of the SFHS and a parent of one of the students at SFHS for breach of contract, defamation and violating two other legal rights. A jury on May 6 awarded each former student $500,000 and tuition reimbursement, which totaled about $70,000, the Los Angeles Times reported.
