Mom may sue after school publicly shames her 7-year-old daughter for writing ‘any life’ matters

A California mother says she’ll sue her daughter’s school district after it punished the girl for writing that “any life” matters. 

In the latest case of schools punishing young students who don’t’ conform to their Critical Race Theory and gender identity policies, Chelsea Boyle claims Viejo Elementary School forced her 7-year-old daughter to make a public apology after she wrote the words “any life” next to the words “Black Lives Mater” [sic] on a drawing she made in class. 

She also alleges the school never informed her of the incident or the punishment her daughter received, only having found out about it from another parent a full year after the incident took place. 

The 1st-grader’s drawing included black, brown, orange and purple circles that represent her friends, with the words “Black Lives Mater” and “any life.” 

The picture reportedly went home with one of Boyle’s daughter’s friends, and Boyle says the friend’s parents saw the drawing and called the school to complain. 

Boyle says the elementary school principal then forced her daughter to apologize in front of her classmates and staff on the playground.  

After the apology, her daughter also was barred from drawing at school and her recess time was revoked, forcing her to sit on a bench while other students enjoyed their free time, RedState.com reports 

Making matters worse, Boyle says her daughter did not understand why she was being punished and feels the punishment is not only unwarranted but is also particularly cruel given that drawing has been the biggest therapeutic outlet for her daughter, who has ADHD.  

“She didn’t understand why she didn’t matter, why her friend didn’t matter. She has another friend that is Japanese; she doesn’t understand,” Boyle told RedState. 

After multiple attempts to resolve the issue with school principal Jesus Becerra and other district officials failed, Boyle sought legal counsel.  

“It’s a compelled speech issue,” says Boyle’s attorney, Alexander Haberbush. “Obviously, compelled speech is one of the toughest tests that they have to meet, if they want to say that this is valid. We believe that there is no way that they can meet that standard, and we believe this is an egregious deprivation of her rights and that Chelsea should be vindicated.”  

Haberbush represents the LexRex Institute, a legal and public outreach organization that helps private individuals hold government officials accountable for violations of civil liberties. 

Haberbush said he took on the case not because of money, but because he believes Boyle and her daughter were genuinely wronged, and he doesn’t want it to happen to another innocent family. 

“She did not call … my office because she was trying to make a buck. In fact, we will not take clients who are only out to make a buck. What she wanted from the school was an apology, [for them to recognize] they had done wrong, to apologize to her daughter and apologize to her,” Haberbush said. 

“Primarily what we want is a judicial determination and recognition that wrongdoing occurred, so that it won’t happen again because nobody should have to go through this.” 

Ultimately, Boyle hopes summer break has given the Viejo Elementary principal time to reconsider his position. 

“I hope when this podcast comes out that he sees, ‘Oh, she’s not dropping it.’ I’m serious. I don’t want this to happen to my kids. I don’t want it to happen to your kids.” 

About The Author

Get News, the way it was meant to be:

Fair. Factual. Trustworthy.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.