North Carolina lawmakers could require schools to allow families to appeal some short-term suspensions, after a high school student was suspended for saying in class that “illegal aliens” need green cards.

Christian McGhee received national attention after he was suspended for three days for asking his English teacher at Central Davidson High School whether her reference to the word aliens referred to “space aliens, or illegal aliens who need green cards.”

The family wasn’t allowed to appeal to the Davidson County school board after the April suspension.

But under a bill introduced Wednesday in the state Senate Education Committee, high school students would be given the right to appeal short-term suspensions of five days or more and to get them removed from their records under certain conditions.

“Ultimately this bill is about upholding due process for students if they believe they were unfairly punished,” Sen. Steve Jarvis, a Davidson County Republican, said Wednesday. “They should have the right to appeal and seek a resolution.

“By supporting this bill, we can ensure that our students are treated fairly and have appropriate avenues to address their concerns, ultimately promoting a more just and supportive education environment.”

The bill received bipartisan support in the committee Wednesday. A formal committee vote could be held next week.

Family sues school over suspension

McGhee was formerly a 16-year-old sophomore at Central Davidson High in Lexington, which is south of Winston-Salem and about 110 miles west of Raleigh. He has since left the school after the family said he became a victim of bullying because of the incident.

McGhee was suspended for three days in April, according to school records, for making a “racially motivated” and “racially insensitive” comment.

The Liberty Justice Center filed a federal lawsuit last month on behalf of the family, accusing the Davidson County school system of violating the student’s rights to free speech, education and due process. The family wants monetary damages and for the suspension to be removed from school records.

“This draft of this bill is more important than you can even imagine,” Leah McGhee, Christian’s mother, told the committee on Wednesday. “The absolute hell that our family has been through the past 60 days I cannot express in words.

“But I pray that you can hear it through my heart as I speak to you today pleading that something be done to rectify the problem in our schools dealing with short-term suspension and appeals.”

McGhee said her son’s question wasn’t racist because alien is not a race. But she said racism violations should be considered a hate crime that warrants at least a 10-day suspension.

Also during her comments, McGhee accused school board members of spreading misleading texts to community members about her serving time for opioid possession a decade ago. The Liberty Justice Center cited those texts in a legal filing this week seeking a preliminary injunction against the school district.

Appeal and expungement process

Under state law, appeals are only guaranteed if a student receives a long-erm suspension. Those last more than 10 days.

Under the legislation, principals would be required to accept a detailed, written eyewitness account of an incident that could result in a short-term or long-term suspension within 24 hours of the incident.

A principal would be required to provide a student with detailed, written documentation of the specific section of the Code of Student Conduct that the student is accused of violating.

The bill says high school students would be given the right to appeal a short-term suspension of five or more days. It would also allow the student to seek removal of the suspension from their records if certain conditions are met, such as not being expelled or suspended again during the same school year.

Jarvis said it’s important to add an appeal and expungement process because 66,794 of the 84,539 short-term suspensions given last school year to high school students were for at least five days.

“High schoolers face considerable pressure to maintain a clean record for graduation, making it important for them to address the potential long-term effects that short-term suspensions can have in their life going forward,” Jarvis said.

Sen. Jay Chaudhuri. a Raleigh Democrat, said the bill brings needed attention to the issue of short-term suspensions.

“By addressing the due process issue and hopefully providing the resources for these students, we can lower short-term suspension rates and help our students lead productive lives,” Chaudhuri said.