NC High School Student Suspended for Saying ‘Illegal Alien’ Will Receive Public Apology

(American Greatness)—A North Carolina high school student who was suspended last year for saying the words “illegal alien” will be receiving a public apology from the Davidson County Board of Education as well as $20,000 in compensation.

The Carolina Journal reports that a federal lawsuit filed last year challenging the student’s suspension on First Amendment grounds resulted in a year-long battle between Christian McGhee’s family and the Davidson County School Board.

According to court documents filed last week, the family has agreed to drop their lawsuit in exchange for a public apology from the county board of education for mischaracterizing the student in a racially-biased manner.

The student’s family says the money received in the settlement will be used to offset the costs of the new private school that Christian transferred to following the suspension.

McGhee was given a three-day suspension in April 2024 for “making a racially insensitive remark that caused a class disturbance” after using the words “illegal alien” during a vocabulary lesson.

School administrators claimed that McGhee’s comment was offensive and disrespectful to his Hispanic classmates.

When school officials refused to lift the suspension, the Liberty Justice Center filed a lawsuit against the board and former Assistant Principal Eric Anderson on behalf of the family.

McGhee’s lawyers argued that there was no legal justification for the suspension because Christian’s comment was protected under the First Amendment.

After more than a year of litigation, the McGhee family and school board have reached an agreement both parties call “fair, reasonable, and in the best interest of Christian.”

In statements issued by all parties following the settlement, the school board maintains that the grounds for suspending Christian remain, due to the classroom disruption, remain but they also acknowledge that the racial accusations were mischaracterized and will be removed from the young man’s school record.

The joint statement also says:

“While the Board maintains that the disciplinary action imposed was appropriate due to class disruption caused by the comments at issue, the Board apologizes for the mischaracterization of racial bias arising from Christian’s comments and will remove any reference to race or racial bias as a motive for the comments from his educational record, which contains no other incidences of discipline related to racial bias.”

Following the national controversy over the suspension, 14 candidates ran for three open seats on the school board with the sole incumbent being defeated and two other long term members of the board choosing not to run for reelection.