Created: 3/27/2006 5:19:21 PM 
ROME, GA (AP) -- The American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia filed a federal lawsuit Monday against Murray County schools for expelling an eighth-grader for writing a poem on school violence.
The student, whose name was not released, was suspended and expelled last year after he showed a notebook full of poems to his English teacher, according to an ACLU statement.
The statement said several students and another teacher "read the poem without incident, all commenting on his creativity and none believing the poem to be threatening."
The student was indefinitely suspended from the school and later was barred from attending any school in the district for the rest of the school year. Officials also filed an action against him in juvenile court that claimed he made criminal "terroristic threats," the ACLU said.
"Kids are being raised in a society where there are violent images around them, not just in movies but in the news," said ACLU attorney Beth Littrell. "Their writing may reflect that and the school should not be punishing them for their creative expression unless it's truly threatening."
Murray County School District has not yet received the lawsuit, said Dean Donehoo, director of administrative services. Donehoo declined to comment until the lawsuit has been reviewed by the school district's attorneys.
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