ATLANTA — An appeals court has rejected the Cobb County School District’s attempt to reinstate the expulsion of a student who was removed from school after reporting a possible school threat following the deadly Apalachee High School shooting.
In a brief decision, the Georgia Court of Appeals denied what the student’s attorney described as a last-ditch effort by the district to reinstate the expulsion. The student, identified by his attorneys as G.D., was a middle schooler at the time and is now a ninth grader.
Southern Poverty Law Center deputy legal director Mike Tafelski says the student is now back at home and attending school after a year of legal battles and trauma.
“The trauma that carries with you is significant and the toll that it takes on families is significant,” Tafelski said.
Tafelski describes the case as part of what he calls a national crisis, saying Black students and students with disabilities are disproportionately suspended or expelled for the same rule violations as white students.
He says the issue is especially evident in Cobb County.
“We have reviewed data in Cobb County that even in the same school, when Black children are accused of violating the same rule as a white child, they are disproportionately and more significantly punished,” Tafelski said.
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the student in this case is Black, has a disability, and had never been in trouble before. Tafelski says the district refers more than 700 students for expulsion each year and that those referrals disproportionately involve children of color and students with disabilities.
“So like in this case, we have a Black child with a disability; you see how the disparities reflect in the outcome of this case,” Tafelski said.
The Cobb County School District has previously said threat rumors cost significant resources.
WSB has reached out to the district for comment on the appeals court ruling and the claims raised by the student’s attorneys.
WSB Radio’s Veronica Waters contributed to this story.