This photo was widely shared during the height of the Black Lives Matter movement
Two teenagers expelled from school for posting photos online are to be awarded $1m (£800,000) in compensation.
The two students attended St. Francis High School in Mountain View, California, an elite Catholic school.
However, they were both fired from the agency in 2020 after the three-year-old photo was widely shared online.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the photo was taken at a sleepover in 2017 when the students were just 14 years old. The photo shows two boys with their friends, all three wearing green acne masks.
But three years later, the photo went viral during the height of the Black Lives Matter movement, with the boys accused of wearing “blackface.”
St. Francis High School told boys they would either have to drop out or face expulsion. The boys were not given a hearing and the school did not consider any evidence, according to a lawsuit filed by former students and their parents.
The lawsuit claims the photo was intended to look “goofy” because the masks initially appear light green but “turn to a darker green as they dry on the face.”
The pair, known only as AH and HH in the lawsuit, claim the school breached a verbal contract and failed to give them due process before expelling them in 2020 over the photos from three years ago.
A Santa Clary County Court jury ultimately sided with the former students, who will receive $500,000 each from the school and receive tuition reimbursements totaling about $70,000.
The families initially sued the school for $20 million.
Krista Baughman, one of the attorneys representing the teens, called the ruling “groundbreaking.”
“This case is not only significant for our client, but has a groundbreaking impact on all private high schools in California, which are now required by law to provide students with a fair process before punishing or expelling them,” she said.
“The jury correctly confirmed that the process at St. Francis High School was unfair to our client and that the school is not above the law.”
Representatives for St. Francis said they “respectfully disagree with the jury's conclusion on the minor claim regarding the fairness of our disciplinary review process.” They added that the school was considering appealing the verdict.
AH's family said in a statement: “We sincerely thank the jury and court system for helping our children and family seek justice, which paves the way to clear their names for something they never did.”
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