An elite Connecticut prep school has been notified that a lawsuit will be filed next week by the two parents of a former student, who, according to the parents, was expelled because of his conservative viewpoints.
Theodore and Sonia Mancini are filing suit against Cheshire Academy, Head of School Julie Anderson and school dean Wesley Simon because their football recruit son was booted out of the school — they say, in breach of contract. Their lawyer Jamie Sullivan claims that the school made promises that the school “would be tolerant of their political views.”
The school reportedly costs roughly $62,000 per year for tuition/room and board.
The Mancinis are seeking monetary damages and are attempting to get their son reinstated, since they feel “they are in the right.”
“I do a lot of school litigation on bullying cases and in a sense, this is bullying for having non-traditional ideas,” Sullivan said, according to the New Haven Register. “It belies the whole concept of liberalism, which is to embrace diverse ideas. In this politically correct environment, they are being very intolerant.”
The expulsion reportedly happened after the student’s father created a website, therealcheshireacademy.com.
At the very top of the page appears this sentence: “A true story of a Prep School student who is censored and persecuted for refusing to buy in 100% to the virtue signaling, gender fluid, liberal indoctrination of high school students today (complete with audio clips of their Star Chamber Disciplinary Hearing).”
The website basically walks through a series of clashes between their son and school officials. In one instance, the teen argued that “transgenderism is a fabricated condition used to legitimize an otherwise abnormal condition.” The context here was a class discussion where the “premise was that in talking about the character Viola, who cross dresses as a male (Cesario), […] that Shakespeare was trying to portray transgenderism in a positive light.”
“My son brought up the point that during the time the book was written (1601-1602) his society would never partake in that sociopathic act,” the website said. “He was then asked to elaborate by the teacher and said ‘One trait of a Sociopath is to try and normalize an abnormal behavior. For his example he used Ted Bundy and his normalization of his bloodlust. As was stated in his 1979 interview, ‘I am not a monster. I am not an animal. I am just a normal man.'”
In another instance, the student suggested legalization of gay marriage was a “slippery slope.” A third incident apparently happened during a “mandatory white privilege workshop.”
At the very end of the website entry, the parents advise others to go to Cheshire Academy only if they want to keep their mouths shut and not think for themselves:
My advice to everyone thinking of attending this institution. Whether you are a rough and tumble football recruit or an academic who believes in diversity of thought and freedom of expression, PLEASE THINK LONG AND HARD ABOUT YOUR DECISION! If you do not buy in 100% into the whole identity politics, social justice movement then you will either have to keep your mouth shut, keeping your opinions to yourself, or risk being singled out, persecuted and kicked out for attempting to think freely!!!
The plaintiffs are suing over alleged breach of contract, negligent misrepresentation and defamation. School officials haven’t yet commented on the lawsuit, but there was a letter from defendant Anderson that claimed the Mancinis’ son was expelled “following a fair process.”
Anderson further claimed that the teen was “given a number of chances to adhere to our expectations and the rules and code of conduct of Cheshire Academy.”
[Image via YouTube screengrab]