Kilt-wearing student plans legal action

Published on Tuesday 13 December 2005 17:42

PLANS are under way to take legal action against a Missouri school district that banned a student from wearing his Scottish kilt to a high school dance, scotsman.com learned exclusively today.

Meanwhile, supporters of the student have banded together to get the young man a complete kilt outfit.

Response has been overwhelming to last week's story about the 18-year-old student's attempt to show pride in his Scottish culture. The story has appeared across the US media in recent days.

Nathan Warmack was wearing his ancestral family tartan when he was prevented from attending the "Silver Arrow" dance in November. The principal at Jackson High School told Nate the kilt was deemed inappropriate and that he must change clothes before being permitted into the dance.

Terry Warmack, the father of the young man, told scotsman.com that a law firm agreed today to push the school district to change its dress-code policy after his unsuccessful attempt to persuade administrators to do so. He said lawyers that specialise in civil-rights issues will review the incident in hopes of resolving the matter without taking the district to court. Although the case will be handled by a not-for-profit firm, Warmack said, "there may be some cost involved".

He added: "We are hoping that we may be able to get some help on this matter."

Discussions with Dr Ron Anderson, superintendent of the Jackson R-II School District, proved difficult, said Warmack, who at the same time has agreed to file a formal complaint with the school board.

When the father told Anderson he sought a policy change that would permit all students to wear cultural attire to formal events at school, the superintendant replied: "That's not going to happen," Warmack said.

The father added that if his son had asked for permission from the principal to wear the kilt before the dance, then the matter might have been approved without issue. However, Warmack is seeking a written policy that would grant anyone wishing to wear cultural attire - ranging from kilts to African dress to Native American garb - the freedom to attend a school function without seeking formal approval from the head of the school.

"The school board is not going to allow that," Warmack was informed by the superintendent.

Nate has said that he wishes to wear his kilt at the senior prom this spring but, according to his father, will take on the district and demand a policy change instead of seek permission from the principal.

Warmack, who is also seeking a formal apology to his son, has agreed "to go through formal channels" to be heard at a future school board meeting. He is awaiting receipt of school documents to lodge the complaint.

The district's school board is holding a regularly scheduled meeting tonight, the only one planned for the month, where it was unlikely the dress-code policy would be discussed. Warmack said he was unaware of the meeting and did not plan to attend.

Warmack said he was told by Anderson that a student's rights are limited in school. "There is no constitutional basis behind Nate having any rights to wear the kilt," Warmack was informed.

"I'm not going to lie down on this," Warmack said. "It's not going to go away."

Meantime, the Clan Gunn Society of North America, which established an online petition in wake of the November incident, are taking offers from fellow clan members and friends to complete the young man's attire. The society has received donations of a custom-made sporran and sgian dubh, as well as a kilt pin and pewter clan badge. Other items can be donated through a website established by Clan Gunn.

About 1400 people have endorsed the petition in the 3 1/2 weeks since it has been online. The petition, which has seen an increase of more than 900 signatures from the time this website reported the story on 6 December, seeks an apology from Richard McClard, the high school principal whose name, ironically, is of Celtic descent.

The clan society plans to conclude the petition-signing period at the end of this week. A printed version of the document with its signatures will be distributed to the principal, the school administration and the media. The society also plans to send a copy to the Warmack family.

Comments appearing on the petition have been uniformly robust in both cheering on Nate's desire to show pride in his Scottish heritage and to lash out against the principal.

Jacob Cox, one of the respondents, said: "In a country where both our social and cultural differences are celebrated, this act threatens the very nature of what this country is about." Watson McDonald added: "Many ill-informed people think kilts are skirts. This principal needs to go back to school and learn about his own heritage."

Edward Collins, a former president of the Saint Andrew's Society in New York and current president of National Tartan Day New York Committee, told scotsman.com: "I give credit to the young lad from Missouri not only for expressing his pride in his heritage by donning the gear, but also for having taken, what seems, considerable time researching his ancestry. It is a shame that one person can arbitrarily decide what is not proper to wear to a formal function."

News organisations across America have now picked up on the story, as well. Tucker Carlson, host of his own programme on MSNBC television and whom claims Scottish ancestry, told his viewers on Friday: "I think it's ethnically insensitive and outrageous that they're making this kid take off his ancestral garb. If he were, you know, a Cherokee, and he showed up in eagle feathers and they told him to take it off, the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) would be on his side."

An online poll in America asked its readers whether the young man should have been allowed to wear his kilt to the dance. Of the more than 19,000 respondents, 95 per cent said "yes".

Renewed attempts to contact both McClard and Anderson were unsuccessful. When a member of the high school staff was asked by this reporter on Monday to speak with McClard, she replied: "He doesn't want to speak to you." However, Anderson told one press agency last week: "We don't have any comment regarding it. It's a principal decision and that pretty much covers it."