Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe CHICAGO, Feb. 22 (UPI) -- Twenty-seven gifted students have sued Chicago Public Schools for disciplining them for wearing T-shirts with the word "Gifties" on the back. The students asked their disciplinary records be cleaned and for damages for violating their First Amendment rights. U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve granted the suit class-action status last week, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. Advertisement At issue is a 2003 vote for a class shirt at Beaubien Elementary School, which the students' suit claims was won by the name "Gifties." The students claim the school's administration did not like the name and T-shirt design and ordered another vote. The gifted students claim they were threatened with suspension, confined to their rooms and not allowed to use restrooms unless they removed the T-shirts. "Freedom of expression is not just about fighting for big issues, but defending small issues, too." Michael Brandt, now 16, told the newspaper. "That's what we did." School officials declined comment on specifics of the students' allegations.
