Barrington Schools File Suit After Student's Suspension

BARRINGTON, RI — The Barrington School Committee sued a student after he successfully challenged a three-day suspension from school. The Barrington Middle School student — referred to in court documents as "E. Doe" — was suspended in 2018 when he was in eighth grade due to a conversation he had with six other boys about a school shooting scenario. After he successfully challenged the suspension with the Rhode Island Department of Education — which then ordered his suspension be vacated — the Barrington School Committee filed suit. Among the committee's requests is reimbursement of attorney fees.

The School Committee's lawsuit was filed this month against the Council on Elementary and Secondary Education and student E. Doe, "by and through parent," the suit states. It came after the education council's order to the School Committee to vacate the boy's suspension.

According to court documents, E. Doe and six other boys talked about a shooting scenario during school lunch on Feb. 28, 2018. The boys were discussing the then-recent shooting in Parkland, Florida.

At first, the conversation was about what they would do if a shooter came to the school. Later, the boys discussed what they would do if they were the shooter.

This later part of the conversation was mostly between four of the seven boys, court documents state. Those four typically played the video game Fortnite together. And in that game, players use pistols, machine guns and grenades.

According to the education council's decision, one of the boys said that if he were the shooter, he would use grenades, like in the video game. E. Doe said he would come in through the front door of the school.

"He 'didn't present any new ideas or directly state anything' other than to 'agree with everyone else' that if he were the shooter, he 'would come in through the front door,'" according to the council's decision, filed in January. The document cites the boy's testimony to school officials.

According to the document, when asked about what he thought of the conversation, the boy said, "I don't know. It was not to be taken literally. It was just a conversation they brought up, and it probably wasn't the best thing to have been talking about considering the events; but it wasn't as though they were planning a literal shooting to come into the school and hurt people."

The investigation of this conversation began after another student in the school cafeteria heard the boys talking about the shooting scenario, court documents state. Later, police "quickly" determined there was no threat.

Still, the following day, the boys' lockers and backpacks were searched and nothing out of the ordinary was found, the court documents state. Each of the boys was interviewed separately by school officials with a school resource officer present.

One of the complaints on the part of the E. Doe's parents is this: They were not told their child would be interviewed, with police present, without their prior notice or presence.

According to the decision by the state's education council, the school resource officer later stated that he did not participate in the questioning of the students. The officer testified that after each interview, the officer told the seven students that "everybody makes mistakes," and that they should learn from them, the document states. The officer also emphasized to each of them that no charges against them were being considered, court documents state.

In addition, the school's principal has stated that all four of the suspended students were "respectful boys" and that "students tend to look, you know, towards them," according to the state education council's decision.

Still, the principal suspended E. Doe and the three other students, and also gave three days of detention to three additional students who were at the same cafeteria table, the council's decision states.

"It was a conversation as if they were being active shooters ... we have to look at what was said and how does it impact our overall learning community," the principal testified, according to the council's decision. "So, we felt that appropriate, the consequences were appropriate."

The School Committee's lawsuit was filed on Oct. 10 at Providence/Bristol County Superior Court.