Long Island Parents File Lawsuit After Sons' Suspension In Sexting Scandal

KINGS PARK, NY - The parents of two Kings Park High School students have filed a lawsuit against the school after the teens were suspended for a day after receiving an "unsolicited sex video" of other students, according to a report in the New York Post.

In 2015, two then 14-year-old students were arrested and over 20 were suspended after receiving a video on their phones of a male and female student allegedly engaging in sexual activity outside of school grounds, according to a CBS report.

Now the parents of two of the students involved, Andrew Fenton and Thomas Phelan are suing claiming that their sons were both unjustly suspended by principal Lino Bracco since they immediately deleted the text and did not receive it on school grounds, the Post reports.

“Somebody forwarded a video to his phone that he has no control over receiving it,” Fenton told 1010 WINS in 2015. “They have no answers to any of this, just suspend whomever they want.”

The day after receiving the suspension, Fenton's son, AJ, attempted to return to school despite the suspension and was escorted by police, according to a CBS report.

Phelan was also angry after his son received the suspension.

"My son was an unwilling participant,” Phelan told CBS2 in 2015. “He didn’t give anybody permission or authority to send this over to him. Everybody just gets stuff sent to their phones. That’s why I think this is ridiculous — my son did not view it.”

The parents are claiming in the lawsuit that their sons’ "due process rights were violated," and that the two “have been stigmatized and caused to suffer humiliation and anguish,” the Post reports.

Kings Park Superintendent Timothy Eagen said in a statement that "it is the district's policy and practice to not comment on specific student disciplinary matter and/or pending lawsuits."

Photo/Flickr/CreativeCommons/Amy Aletheia Cahill