A 12-year-old Ohio boy was suspended from school for starring at a girl while playing the “staring game” last year, and a court recently upheld the decision.
The incident took place in September 2014 at St. Gabriel Consolidated School in Glendale, Ohio. According to the boy’s parents, the two students were playing the “starring game” yet their son was received disciplinary action.
Candice Tolbert, the boy’s mother, filed a lawsuit in hopes to get the suspension lifted from her son’s record because her son wasn’t given due process.
“The perception is he intimidated her,” Tolbert said.
During an interview with FOX 19, Tolbert, who didn’t want her son to be interviewed on camera, said the incident happened on a Monday and the girls’s parents contacted the school that following Tuesday. On the same day, their son was suspended and wrote a letter of apology to the girl. Tolbert says she wasn’t aware of the letter or the suspension until Wednesday.
In the apology letter, which was reviewed by the news station, the girl says she “felt fearful” however, the boy wasn’t aware because he said “I never knew she was scared because she was laughing.”
A statement by the school reveals school officials are also done investigating the matter.
“Judge Patrick Dinkelacker listened to the plaintiff’s arguments yesterday, rejected them, and dismissed the complaint against the school. We aren’t going to comment any further on particular issues concerning our students.”