Parents sue Tennessee governor and school district, claiming kids were punished after officials misinterpreted state statute

Two families have filed a federal lawsuit against Tennessee Governor Bill Lee and the Williamson County School District, claiming their middle school kids were arrested, strip-searched, placed in solitary confinement, forced to undergo evaluations and placed on house arrest after officials misinterpreted a Tennessee statute and claimed that conversations between peers were “threats of mass violence.”

Two families have filed a federal lawsuit against Tennessee Governor Bill Lee and the Williamson County School District, claiming their middle school kids were arrested, strip-searched, placed in solitary confinement, forced to undergo evaluations and placed on house arrest after officials misinterpreted a Tennessee statute and claimed that conversations between peers were “threats of mass violence.” The lawsuit stems from two separate, unrelated incidents in August 2023 where a pair of students were accused of making threatening speech. However, according to the lawsuit, the speech used by the middle schoolers in the two separate incidents did not rise to the level of a threat of mass violence nor did it amount to actions “that a reasonable person would conclude would lead to serious bodily injury” or the death of two or more people, as defined in Tennessee statute 39-16-517. The lawsuit challenges the way school officials applied Tennessee statute 39-16-517, a 2021 “zero tolerance” law that addresses communications of threats of mass violence on school property or at school related events and requires districts to expel students for one year if they have been found to have made threats of mass violence. In an August 10, 2023 incident, a 14-year-old boy, identified as B.N., was accused by a fellow student of making threats about having a gun in his backpack, shooting up the school and having a bomb at home, claims the boy denied. The boy said his only mention of guns was when he told friends about a lunchtime conversation he had with another boy who had described the firearms his grandfather owned. Following interviews with school officials and police, B.N. “was taken into custody for violating” the Tennessee statute captioned “Threat of Mass Violence on School Property,” the lawsuit said.