Public school officials in Virginia are being accused of humiliating an 11-year-old male student by forcing him to wear red fingernail polish, lipstick, and a bow in his hair.
A lawsuit alleges that fifth-grader Matthew Thornberry was the victim of assault and battery when principal Emma Austin and assistant principal Jenny Eaton put makeup on the boy last year while he was a student at Twin Springs Elementary School. Pittsylvania County School superintendent James McDaniel is also named as a defendant in the case. The three educators have also been sued for intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress, and gross negligence.
Thornberry's attorney, Glenn Berger, calls the officials' conduct "outrageous," and contends it will scar the young boy for the rest of his life.
"It's one thing for a child to even ridicule himself or to make a joke," Berger explains, "but it's a very different thing for an administrator to set a child up for ridicule. Administrators should set examples of good behavior -- not mimic bad behavior and set children up for ridicule."
The suit also alleges the administrators required students to refer to Thornberry as a new student named "Mattie." According to the attorney, the young boy may find it difficult to live down the incident in the community. "It's a community where the person you went to fifth grade with will probably be a friend of yours or an acquaintance of yours for the rest of your life," he says.
Superintendent McDaniel would not comment on the alleged incident. Berger says he expects the case to go to trial next fall.
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