LAFAYETTE, La. (Legal Newsline) – A Louisiana school board has nearly defeated a lawsuit that sought to punish it for placing a student into isolation for not wearing a face mask.
Magistrate Judge Patrick Hanna, of Lafayette federal court, issued a report and recommendations on Feb. 24 that suggests Kelly Beasley’s lawsuit be dismissed. It will be up to Judge Robert Summerhays to accept or reject the R&R.
Beasley sued Iberia Parish School Board and several of its employees, including Superintendent Carey Laviolette, as well as Caneview Elementary School administration.
Beasley’s son was taken to an isolated classroom on Aug. 11, 2021, and remained there, crying hysterically, without adequate supervision until Beasley could pick him up, the suit says. Beasley says her son was traumatized.
Her lawsuit says the school, by attempting to force the child to wear a mask, infringed on her religious rights and punished her son by placing him in a FINS program for missing school.
Beasley, a Catholic, says she was forced to withdraw both of her children from local schools to homeschool them because of the statewide mask mandate, which is no longer in effect.
The R&R rejects claims for an injunction against an already canceled mandate and says she failed to allege facts that say her due process rights were violated. School staff followed the attendance policy “and provided Plaintiff with ample opportunity to discuss and/or rectify (the student’s) attendance record prior to initiating a truancy referral,” Hanna wrote.
“(T)his court rejects Plaintiff’s argument that she was forced from her employment,” Hanna added.
“Rather, Plaintiff’s decision to leave her employment to homeschool her children was the result of her own choice and one Plaintiff is free to make.”