Parents Of Teen Boy Sue His High School Because He Was Caught Having Sex In A Car
Who is to blame?
Morakot Kawinchan / Getty Images via Canva, Krakenimages.com, BAZA Production / Shutterstock Most parents would not be happy with their children if they were caught having sex in a car at school. However, two parents who found themselves in this situation were more unhappy with their child’s school than the child and took some incredible measures against the school.
Parents tried to sue their son's school because they caught him having sex in a car.
According to a TikTok from the Salt Lake Tribune, a couple argued that "their constitutional rights to parent their child and freedom of religion had been violated" after their son was caught having sex on school grounds during school-sanctioned unsupervised time.
In a 2022 article, the Salt Lake Tribune discussed how the parents were “Latter-Day Saints” and that their faith prohibits premarital sex. The parents argued that Skyridge High School in Utah, “‘Gave students free time during the final week of school, it did not do enough ‘to aid their efforts as parents to prevent [their son] JD from having sex'."
The couple claimed that they tried to reach their son at school, but when he did not answer calls from the office, his mother went to look for him. That's when she found him with his girlfriend, having sex in a car on school property.
The parents tried to “stop him” from having sex with his girlfriend.
According to the article, “The Does said they had raised their son under the doctrines of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints” and when they had found out about their son having sex with his girlfriend, they tried to take matters into their own hands.
His parents did their best to ensure that their son would not have premarital sex by making sure that JD would be accompanied by another person during hang-outs with his girlfriend and even having JD become accompanied by an older sibling on trips to and from school.
The parents claimed that the school violated their rights under the 14th Amendment which is established to protect the “fundamental right” to “‘make decisions concerning the care, custody, and control of their children.” However, the district rejected their claims and said that "'The district did not prevent the Does from forbidding JD from engaging in premarital sex'." The parents also argued that since the school did not alert them of the flexible attendance during the last week of school, it deprived “‘them of the opportunity to make decisions about how to parent JD’.”
Ultimately, the parents lost their case after the judge decided that the parents "have not provided any authority supporting the proposition that the government has a constitutional duty to help them parent JD."
Many TikTokers wrote that Alpine school districts did inform parents about flexible attendance.
“As a student who was in this district, my school did notify us that attendance was flexible that week and I think other schools likely did the same,” commented one user.
Many agreed that it’s nobody's fault because “parents can teach their kids w/e they want but in the end, the kid is going to do what they want to.” Some even blamed the parents for not checking the school’s calendars for updated attendance regulations as most schools post attendance schedules on their school calendars.
Parenting can be hard when you have a teen, but schools aren't glorified babysitters.
Cortney Crowell is a writer and frequent contributor to YourTango from New Jersey who covers entertainment, news, and human interest stories