Lawyer doesn't trust Webb City R-7 officials

The lawyer for Webb City High School junior LaStaysha Myers, who has brought a First Amendment lawsuit against R-7 school officials, continued to press for an accelerated trial date in documents filed Tuesday in U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri.
William Fleischaker, Joplin, said it was important that the case be tried before the beginning of the 2005-2006 school year because "there is no assurance that (Ms. Myers') rights will not again be infringed by defendants once the new school year begins."
Ms. Myers was one of a dozen students who were sent home after they refused to change gay pride t-shirts they wore to support Webb City student Brad Mathewson, who was not allowed to wear similar t-shirts. Ms. Myers is not gay.
She filed the lawsuit with the aid of Fleischaker and the American Civil Liberties Union, in an effort to get an injunction to be allowed to wear the shirts as a freedom of expression.
In his motion, Fleischaker disputes the district's claim that a letter written last week by Webb City Superintendent Ron Lankford to Ms. Myers' mother, Leda Myers, makes the lawsuit a moot point. In that letter, Lankford said Ms. Myers will be allowed to "wear any clothing she chooses so long as it is in compliance with the Board of Education's policies."
Fleischaker said, "Whether defendants will, in fact, respect (Ms. Myers') First Amendment rights to expression is a factual matter that has not been resolved by defendants' recent correspondence."
Fleischaker also disputes the district's stance that "barring any further disruptions related to such apparel, (Ms. Myers) is free to wear any t-shirt, including the t-shirts at issue, that comply with board policy"
The Joplin lawyer said nothing that happened during the 2004-2005 school year "was a permissible basis to censor (Ms. Myers') protected expression." Since school officials say Ms. Myers "will not be allowed to wear her t-shirts if any reaction similar to that which led to the previous censorship occurs, (she) is chilled in the exercise of her First Amendment rights." That makes a permanent injunction necessary, Fleischaker said.
In their motion opposing an accelerated trial schedule, school officials said it would be too difficult to get everything and everyone in place on time. Fleischaker said Ms. Myers is "fully willing to work with defendants to set an expedited discovery schedule that can accommodate the schedule of (the school district's) counsel."