Valedictorian lawsuit results

[Guest SweetNSexyDiva]

Disabled S. Jersey senior is ruled sole valedictorian

 

By John Shiffman and Toni Callas

Inquirer Staff Writers

 

A federal judge yesterday scolded Moorestown school officials for trying to make a disabled senior share valedictory honors with a student who has taken a regular load of courses.

 

The judge ordered the school district to award the title of valedictorian to Blair Hornstine, whose discrimination lawsuit in the dispute was ridiculed by some fellow students and drew national attention.

 

U.S. District Judge Freda Wolfson said school officials violated Hornstine's civil rights by engaging in a "strange and relentless" effort to discredit her achievement. It's a classic case of discrimination, Wolfson said in her Camden courtroom.

 

"If forced to share the award, the stigma would likely be unshakable," the judge said. "She would be seen as 'the disabled valedictorian,' not 'the valedictorian.' "

 

School officials had proposed changing the criteria for valedictorian at a board meeting next week. Wolfson's order barred any such change and harshly criticized school officials for considering a rule that she said so transparently targeted one person.

 

"You might as well call it the Hornstine Amendment," the judge said. "Why haven't you looked at this [special-education] curriculum before? You have pinpointed her."

 

Hornstine, who has an immune deficiency that forces her to take some classes at home, did not attend court yesterday.

 

Wolfson also expressed "great concerns" about the motivations of school officials. She rebuked the district for "major flaws in the factual underpinnings" of documents it filed in the case.

 

The school district's attorney, John Comegno, would not comment afterward. In court, he had argued that Hornstine would not suffer any loss if named co-valedictorian.

 

"She might be asked to share a stage, nothing more," he said. "We're just asking the court to level the playing field."

 

But the judge agreed with Hornstine's lawyer, Edwin Jacobs, who said the school district created "the playing field" when it put together her special-education schedule.

 

Hornstine, an aspiring lawyer, earned a 4.6894 grade point average, including 23 grades of A-plus, to amass the highest GPA at Moorestown High. She scored 1,570 out of a possible 1,600 on her SAT.

 

Jacobs said Hornstine had been harassed in the week since she filed the lawsuit. She has received threatening notes, and her house was hit with eggs last weekend, he said.

 

Asked if Hornstine, whose father is a Superior Court judge in Camden County, believes her lawsuit was worth the criticism, Jacobs said: "I think it's a balance."

 

"She's ill, but she's tough," he said. "That's why she's willing to stand up for her principles."

 

The senior who earned the highest grades in the regular curriculum, Kenneth Mirkin, intervened in the lawsuit and appeared in court yesterday.

 

His lawyer, Frances A. Harman, argued that Hornstine had an "incidental advantage" over Mirkin because the special-education curriculum had given Hornstine individual attention, extra time to take tests, and an exemption from physical education class, which is weighted less in GPA calculations than regular classes. "My client is cast in the position of being a victim," Harman told the court.

 

Afterward, Mirkin, 18, said he believed he would be vindicated when "all the facts" in the case came out. "I'm not concerned with my personal right to be valedictorian," he said. "I did this for the senior class, the school, and the citizens of Moorestown."

 

Both Hornstine and Mirkin plan to attend Harvard University in the fall, with Hornstine following in the footsteps of her brother, Adam.

 

The siblings are known as high achievers and have made headlines before. In 2001, they were awarded the President's Community Volunteer Award after starting the Moorestown Alliance for Goodwill and Interest in Community to help the elderly and underprivileged. That year, Blair Hornstine was one of those chosen to carry the Olympic Torch as it passed through Philadelphia.

 

At the high school, many students were guarded about their comments because the district superintendent had asked students, staff and parents not to speak to reporters. But others expressed anger about the suit.

 

"I think it's selfish of [Hornstine] to want to be the only valedictorian," sophomore Carl J. Steuernagel said. "If the school decides someone else can share the title, then they should be able to do so."

 

Senior Alli McGuigan said that many students stood behind the district, and that the matter had cast a shadow on her class. "I am disappointed by the current situation with the school," she said. "It's a shame to think that Moorestown's Class of 2003 will go down in history as the class that had to pick its valedictorian in a courtroom."

 

 

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Contact staff writer John Shiffman at 856-779-3857 or [email protected]. Inquirer staff writer Jennifer Moroz contributed to this article.

 

I can't believe she won!

[Guest MD2020]

I read in the Philadelphia Daily News yesterday that if Hornstine had to take the same classes as everyone else, i.e. she would have to take one or the other AP classes that conflicted with each other, and not be able to schedule both like she did, she would have not been number 1. By being able to take the extra weighted AP classes that no one else had the ability to take, she became valedictorian.

 

Of course, we all know how important being your high school valedictorian is in the real world, don't we?

[Bored 0]

There is no justice in the world. Hopefully she'll get booed and heckled during her speech at graduation.

[Guest Lord of The Curry]

Lord that is funny.

[Guest Vern Gagne]

I'm still contending that Mom and Dad where behind this entire thing.

[Guest JHawk]

And this is why people file frivolous lawsuits...

 

They end up winning the damned things!

[Guest Galactic Gigolo]

There is no justice in the world. Hopefully she'll get booed and heckled during her speech at graduation.

The graduation will be taking place about a half hour from my house. I'm seriously contemplating going with a video camera and along with few others, starting shit with this bitch.

[Guest Eagan469]

but...the bitch didn't attend school half the time!

[Guest JHawk]

I read in the Philadelphia Daily News yesterday that if Hornstine had to take the same classes as everyone else, i.e. she would have to take one or the other AP classes that conflicted with each other, and not be able to schedule both like she did, she would have not been number 1. By being able to take the extra weighted AP classes that no one else had the ability to take, she became valedictorian.

You know what the ironic thing is? Right now, we've got more grounds for a discrimination lawsuit than this bitch did, and she still won the case.

 

Someone tell the two people that are getting hosed to file a suit because they were discriminated against for being normal.

[Guest Youth N Asia]

I hope they boo the mother f out of her durring her speach

[Guest CoreyLazarus416]

And, of course, then the bitch will wind up in a bar somewhere sucking dick for coke, while mumbling something about scoring 1570 on her SATs...

[Guest kkktookmybabyaway]

When she goes to make her speech, I'd die laughing if a group of students push her off the stage.

 

I hate lawyers...

[Guest hardyz1]

:::bangs head against wall:::

[Guest CanadianChris]

I hope they boo the mother f out of her durring her speach

If that was at my school, I'd get a bunch of the graduating class to start up the Kurt Angle "YOU SUCK!" chant during her address.

[Guest Galactic Gigolo]

Trust me everyone. I have made the decision to, and pending that no one gets light of it and throws me out, to do something with a group of students from the school during the graduation.

 

I just hope she shows up at graduation. There's a chance that she knows something like this might happen and decide to not show up.

[Guest The Amazing Rando]

now if the Valedictorian doesn't show up during graduation...and I was a student that got hosed.... I would be fucking suing all kinds of people...

[Guest MD2020]

At my graduation, the No. 2 guy gave the opening speech--the salutorian (spelling) or whatever it's called. The best scenario would be if, during his speech, the student body chanted "Number One" when he was up there.

[Guest kkktookmybabyaway]

"At my graduation, the No. 2 guy gave the opening speech--the salutorian (spelling) or whatever it's called. The best scenario would be if, during his speech, the student body chanted "Number One" when he was up there."

 

lol -- That's the way it was back when I graduated. Of course our val. got there by cheating through school, but whatever.

 

But if you ask anyone who was there they'll probably remember the noisemakers, inflatable woman and light bulb falling from the ceiling and hitting my friend on the head more than who gave the stupid speeches...

[Guest hardyz1]

Two words: air horn. We had two of these at my graduation. Blew them right through the playing of the alma mater. Then there was the smoke bombs, silly string, and beach balls. The best day of high school ever.