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Student sues after being cut by coach over pink cleats

By Chris Joyner, USA TODAY

 

JACKSON, Miss. — A Mississippi high school student has sued his school district, claiming his football coach dismissed him from the team for wearing pink cleats during October's Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

 

According to the suit, filed last week in Simpson County Chancery Court, Mendenhall High School football coach Chris Peterson dressed down Coy Sheppard, a 17-year-old senior kicker, during an Oct. 8 football game for wearing the cleats.

 

When Sheppard arrived at practice the next week wearing the shoes, Peterson cut him from the squad, says Oliver Diaz, a former state Supreme Court justice representing Coy.

 

Because students in the Simpson County School District earn academic credit for sports, Diaz said, Coy's "graduation may be in jeopardy."

 

District Deputy Superintendent Tom Duncan said the problem isn't the color of Coy's shoes but that the student ignored the orders of his coaches to take off the shoes.

 

The school board announced Wednesday that it will hold a news conference Thursday morning to discuss Sheppard's case.

 

"It had absolutely nothing to do with lack of support for breast cancer awareness," Duncan said. He also said the coach told Coy he would be allowed to make up his lost PE credit and graduate on time.

 

The shoes were a present from Coy's 82-year-old great-grandmother, and he wore them in honor of his grandmother and step-grandmother, both cancer survivors, said his mother, JoAnne Sheppard. She said her son, who also plays soccer and works part time, has never been in trouble before.

 

Busy with soccer practice and his after-school job, Coy was not available for comment, his mother said. The coach, she said, "belittled" her son. "That's hard from someone you look up to," she said.

 

Diaz said Coy has apologized and promised to leave the pink shoes at home, but school officials have not budged. School board President Larry Cockrell said he hopes the dispute can be worked out.

 

"I wish it could have been handled differently, where there could have been some compromise," he said. "I think all the kid wants is to play football and finish out the year."

 

Coy's lawsuit asks the court to reinstate him to the football team, clear his record and for any monetary damages to go to the American Cancer Society.

 

The school district has 30 days from the Nov. 4 filing to respond.

 

The lawsuit is the latest legal action by a Mississippi student challenging the decision of school officials. In March, Itawamba County Agricultural High School senior Constance McMillen filed suit after she was told she could not bring her same-sex date to the school prom. The school district eventually settled the claim, paying $35,000 in damages and $81,000 in legal fees.

 

In August, Ceara Sturgis, another lesbian teen, sued her high school in Wesson over its refusal to allow her to wear a tuxedo in her yearbook photo. The suit is pending in federal district court.

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