School wrong about 'satanic' T-shirt

Dress codes in US schools are tightening up

A student who was sent home from a United States school for wearing a "satanic" T-shirt should have been allowed to stay in class, an education department official has ruled.

When Robert Parker turned up for lessons at Westerly High School in Westerly, Rhode Island, wearing a rock band T-shirt bearing the numerals 666, school officials sent him home.

They said the T-shirt, relating to the now defunct band White Zombie, posed a threat to school order, and told him never to wear it to school again.

This was because the numerals 666 are believed by some to refer to the devil.

But two years after the incident, state education department official Paul Pontarelli has ruled that Mr Parker, who is now 18 and has graduated from school, had not caused any disruption deserving exclusion.

He ordered any mention of punishment related to the T-shirt to be expunged from the former student's educational record.

'Concrete evidence needed'

The ruling follows a challenge against the school's decision made by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Rhode Island.

It claimed the school's dress code was vague, and violated free speech rights. It is now considering filing a lawsuit.

Steven Brown, executive director of ACLU Rhode Island, said the decision showed that "schools can't simply say there is a disruption without backing it up with concrete evidence".

The Westerly School committee, which spent $60,000 arguing its case, is entitled to appeal against the ruling.