Kennedy Lee sued the Weakley County School Board after two Greenfield High School graduating seniors were forced to sit on the bleachers instead of with their classmates at graduation. The suit also alleges that Lee and another student with POTS spent most of their senior year in a “former storage room” because the school said her disability “caused significant inconvenience to other students.” “This case is fraught with extreme prejudice and fear toward individuals with disabilities,” the lawsuit, obtained by People magazine, states.
A former Tennessee high school student with a disability is suing his school board, alleging a series of “bias” that forced him and two other graduating students to sit with the audience instead of with their classmates.
Kennedy Lee previously told People magazine that she and two other Greenfield High School graduates were forced into the bleachers at the May 17 graduation ceremony.
“It was really tough not having the same opportunities as my other classmates, and my whole high school experience was not normal,” Lee said at the time. “So I just wanted to be a normal student for one night and be treated like a normal student, and then that was taken away from me.”
On July 12, Lee’s lawyers filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court against the Weakley County Board of Education, alleging that the incident on graduation day was the latest in a series of “humiliating” abuses that Lee has suffered at the school.
“This incident involves extreme prejudice and insecurity towards people with disabilities,” the complaint, obtained by People magazine, states. “Greenfield High School administrators have maintained that individuals with certain neurological disabilities should be turned away, not seen and segregated from their peers.”
According to the lawsuit, Lee suffers from Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS), a condition the Cleveland Clinic says can cause her heart to beat “faster than normal” when she stands up from a sitting position, potentially leading to fainting.
The lawsuit alleges that instead of following the student’s 504 plan, which is supposed to protect the rights of students with disabilities and remove barriers to learning, Lee spent most of his junior year at Greenfield High School in a former storage shed that the school had cleared out and placed a baby cot in.
“W.C.S. [Weakley County Schools] “Kennedy and another student with POTS were confined and isolated in a storage room for their entire senior year of high school — the 2022-2023 school year — leaving them largely unable to see their non-disabled peers, participate in extracurricular activities, take extracurricular classes such as art and music, eat lunch in the cafeteria with their peers, use the library, or receive instruction from teachers in the general education curriculum,” the lawsuit states.
“WCS provided Ms. Kennedy with a missing online curriculum that was different from that of her non-disabled classmates attending mainstream education classes,” the lawsuit states.
Attorneys representing the school district did not respond to PEOPLE’s repeated requests for comment.
According to the lawsuit, Lee’s disability required “reasonable accommodations” from the school, such as giving him extra time to complete assignments and allowing him to sit closer to teachers or friends in case he needed help.
“Rather than following the 504 plan, WCS went to the humiliating extreme of placing Kennedy and another student in the same grade who also had POTS in a former storage room. WCS cleared out the storage room and installed two cribs, one for each student, on either side. The nurse also sat at a small desk in the closet,” the lawsuit states, which also includes a photo of Lee purportedly in the closet.
Kennedy Lee.
Julie Norwood Shell
The complaint alleges that these measures were taken because the school determined that her POTS disorder was “causing significant inconvenience to other students.”
“After enduring the stigma and humiliation of being isolated in a storage room and failing to provide any viable alternatives by WCS, Ms. Kennedy was placed on home confinement for the entire 2023-2024 school year, her final year of school,” the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit notes that Lee was looking forward to walking on stage with her classmates at graduation, but as People magazine previously reported, she ended up sitting with the audience during the official event.
“The decision was targeted at Kennedy’s disability,” the lawsuit alleges. “The principal stated that WCS did not want Kennedy to have a ‘fall’ on the gym floor and have someone come down from the bleachers to rescue or assist her. The principal stated that if this were posted on social media, it would be embarrassing for the school.”
Kennedy Lee.
Courtesy of Kennedy Lee
According to the complaint, Lee’s mother raised the graduation issue with the Weakley County superintendent of schools, who was “sympathetic” but did not correct the principal.
Weakley County Superintendent of Schools Jeff Couples, in an earlier statement regarding Lee’s allegations surrounding Greenfield High School’s May 17 graduation ceremony, said all school districts’ “graduation ceremonies are planned to ensure the safety of all participants.”
“Weakley County Schools does not discriminate on the basis of race, creed, color, disability, national origin, sex, age, political affiliation or belief,” the statement concludes.
Lee previously told People magazine that he considered boycotting the ceremony but decided against it.
According to the lawsuit, she attended the ceremony and “entered separately and sat in the bleachers while her graduating classmates filed in.”
To make sure you never miss a story, sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
“Following graduation, WCS created social media posts about the Class of 2024,” the lawsuit states. “Notably, Kennedy and two other students with disabilities were absent or not even mentioned. This would be the final act of humiliating segregation and exclusion Kennedy would experience.”
According to the lawsuit, Lee is seeking “reasonable attorneys’ fees and expenses” and “damages,” as well as training school officials and staff “about the harms of racial segregation, the obligation to integrate, and the right to reasonable accommodation.”
In a statement about the lawsuit, Lee’s lawyer told People magazine, “While Ms. Kennedy’s disability may limit her ability to physically stand up for herself, no one should doubt that she would stand up to this school system.”