I’ve been following this story since it was reported on CNN a few days ago, and now that I find out it takes place in San Bernardino it all makes sense…

Reported by Irma Lemus, Staff Writer for DailyBulletin.com

SAN BERNARDINO – In what is shaping as a battle between conformity and self-expression, Pacific High School has suspended a ninth-grade boy for wearing lipstick and eye makeup.

Officials are calling it a violation of school policy, which they seemed unable to find in writing.

James Herndon, 16, repeating his second year at the school, and his mother, Valerie Wallace, say James has been wearing black lipstick and red eye makeup the entire time he has been enrolled at Pacific. He also wears his hair in a dyed-red mohawk with the sides shaved. But that was not cited as part of the reason for the five-day suspension, which was imposed Monday.

The youth said the makeup expresses religious beliefs he shares with his mother, a Wiccan priestess in the neopagan religion based on northern European beliefs in the supernatural.

James also said the suspension is sex discrimination and violates his constitutional right to free expression.

“If I can’t wear makeup,’ James said, “then the girls or the staff can’t wear makeup either.’

He said the makeup is not an expression of sexual orientation. The boy also dresses in black clothing in the fashion of self-styled Goths, familiar figures among students on high school campuses for several decades.

School officials were unable to cite any reference to makeup in school regulations or the California Education Code. They pointed to a section of the school’s Student and Parent Handbook on dress code tying the suspension to a paragraph saying that if clothing “creates a safety hazard … or when the dress constitutes a serious and unnecessary distraction to the learning process or tends to disrupt campus order,’ the student is in violation.

Christine Sun, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, said two Education Code sections protecting students’ freedom of expression and guarding against gender discrimination appear to have been violated.

When James returns to school Monday, he will wear the makeup with his mother’s blessing. “My son shouldn’t change the way he is.

“After my divorce from his father, he became very depressed, and wearing the makeup makes him feel good,’ she said, adding that the boy’s psychologist and psychiatrist encourage him to express himself.

District spokeswoman Linda Hill declined to comment on the case, citing student confidentiality laws. She said the district follows the law. She said students shouldn’t wear excessive makeup or clothing that could conceal identity or be distracting.

She said the prohibition applies to boys and girls.

Lynda Savage, a San Bernardino City Unified School District board member, said “without knowing all the details, my gut reaction is to support the principal. We don’t suspend students just because. I suspect this student was a distraction to other students.

“We bend over backwards to provide our students better educational choices. I think this student needed to make a better choice.”

The ACLU’s Sun had a different take: “High school is the time where many students are expressing themselves and really finding themselves and so to suspend the student is such a severe punishment it’s wrong. It’s wrong not only as a legal matter, but it’s not good policy.”

I’ve studied paganism since my freshman year of High School, and I have never once read of Wiccans having to wear make up…Not saying it’s wrong, it just seems like bad publicity for pagans. Seems more like an excuse to scream discrimination rather than the real reason: Personal Expression

Wow, it’s been forever since I’ve been on here. I spent some time last night catching up with some of the LJ happenings of others. Misty’s now working two jobs, which gives us just enough extra money to start putting away for the move. We finally have things right where they need to be and it feels as though our goals are not far from achievable. Meanwhile I sit here trapped in this 10 x 10 box until Monday. I’m in the middle of another bad spell with my foot. This time they did X-rays to check for any fractures or arthritis. Next week they plan to do lab work to check for gout. If it’s not any of those things it basically comes down to the fact that I’m overweight and the access weight is causing strain on my left foot which results in a very bad tendinitis. *Sigh*

The doctor put me off work until Monday. So far today has been my best day and I haven’t experienced very much pain. Saturday is the get together at Eddy and Joe’s. As long as my foot stays in this condition I should be good to go. My hopes are that we have as much fun this weekend as we did last. Rick’s BBQ was on Saturday and it was a real delight. It felt wonderful to be surrounded by friends and not feel any tension or uneasiness. It’s as though we never skipped a beat, everything was wonderful.

I started dabling in my computer nerdness again these past few weeks. I started teaching myself Javascript a few weeks back, but put it on the backburner to learn Flash MX. I purchased a book called Teach Yourself Macromedia Flash MX in 24 hours. I’m on hour 4 and have learned quite a bit about Flash that I didn’t know before. I’m going to build up my Flash, Java, and HTML knowledge again and will hopefully start putting together a new web site again in the future. My hopes are to throw together some sort of online retail site that would sell indie clothing and product. No ideas are final yet, so that concept could change. I’ve started dabbling in Myspace as well, while I started out hating the site it has become a bit of a guilty pleasure for me. People from work have started finding me which I had initially hoped wouldn’t happen, but I let them add me nonetheless. My only reason initially for signing up was to view some of my friends, but when a friend from Utah asked to add me I made it a permanent thing since I knew she was using it as a form of contact with her friends out here in California. Look me up…if you can find me. = )