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A five-year-old federal lawsuit alleging that a Klein Independent School District high school student was subjected to harassment after she refused to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance on Tuesday (March 29) concluded in a $90,000 settlement reached in favor of the plaintiff, according to a report from Houston CBS affiliate KHOU.
KHOU reported that the suit asserted the unidentified female complainant, who attended Klein Oak High School, had her First Amendment rights infringed upon.
All parties involved in the litigation agreed to the settlement before it was heard in a higher court, the station reported.
"She is very relieved it's all over and feels vindicated," civil rights attorney Randall Kallinen, who represented the plaintiff, told KHOU.
According to American Atheists, a civil rights organization, the then-Klein Oak senior in 2017 took issue with the words "under God" and believed "liberty and justice for all" was a misnomer, KHOU reported.
These notions caused the student to stay seated during the recital of the pledge.
Kallinen told the station that his client was unjustly disciplined.
"They punished her and retaliated against her for not participating," he said, according to KHOU.
Houston ABC affiliate KTRK reported that one of the teachers the suit claimed harassed the complainant, Benjie Arnold, agreed to the settlement.
The Texas Association of School Boards paid the $90,000, according to the station.
"The fact that this happened in a public school and at the hands of staff who should know better is particularly appalling," American Atheists president Nick Fish said in a press release.
Geoffrey T. Blackwell, an attorney who works with American Atheists, partnered with Kallinen in representing the student.
"The classroom is not a pulpit," Blackwell said, KTRK reported. "It is a place of education, not indoctrination. This settlement serves as a reminder that students do not lose their First Amendment rights when they enter the classroom."