Court Upholds Suits Against Principal Students Can Sue School Official For Excessive Corporal Punishment

The American Civil Liberties Union hailed as “an important civil rights victory” an appellate court ruling that found it unconstitutional for school officials to use excessive force on students.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled that southeastern Idaho high school students who accused a principal of beating them without provocation could sue him for “excessive corporal punishment.”

“The only thing surprising about this decision is that, here we are in the 20th century and a principal claimed to be immune from suit even though he is alleged to have illegally assaulted and battered children,” Stephen Pevar, an ACLU attorney who represented the students, said Tuesday. “The court’s decision is a resounding victory for students and parents alike.”

The court, in its Sept. 27 decision, refused to dismiss a lawsuit by three students against Alfred Koch, the principal of Preston High School in southeastern Idaho. If the students’ allegations are true, Koch could not have reasonably believed he was acting legally, the court said.

One student, a 15-year-old sophomore, said he was talking with friends about a football player in September 1990 and referred to the player’s attitude as “Heil Hitler.” Koch, passing by, assumed it was a reference to him, slapped the youth twice in the mouth and then squeezed him by the neck, the youth said.

The student was treated in a hospital emergency room. Koch pleaded guilty to assault and battery and was placed on three months’ probation, the court said.

A second youth, a basketball player from another school, said he was sitting in the bleachers after a game at Preston in January 1991 and was unaware that a memorial service was being held. The youth said he did not hear Koch ask him to be quiet, and then was grabbed by the principal and punched in the chest.

The third youth said he was wearing a hat in a school corridor in March 1991, took it off at Koch’s request but then put it on after walking past the principal. The youth said Koch snatched the hat, grabbed him around the neck, threw him head first into a locker, then picked him up and hit him in the chest.

Koch denied the third youth’s allegations. Police investigated but filed no charges, the court said.

The school board put Koch on a year’s probation because of the incidents. He is still the principal, said his lawyer, Phillip Collaer, who declined comment on the ruling.

Koch sought to dismiss the youths’ suit, relying on legal rules that protect government officials from federal damage claims unless the rights they violated were clearly established at the time. U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge ruled that the suit could proceed and was upheld by the appeals court.

As of 1990, several federal appeals courts had ruled that students had constitutional protection against “excessive corporal punishment,” said Judge Betty Fletcher in the 3-0 ruling. The 9th Circuit court had not ruled on the issue but had reached a similar conclusion in a prisoner’s lawsuit, she said.

“Koch could not have reasonably believed his alleged conduct to be lawful,” Fletcher said. “No reasonable principal could think it constitutional to intentionally punch, slap, grab, and slam students into lockers.”