Dad sues after son suspended from football team over e-cigarette

October 27, 2017 / Athletic AdministrationFootball
The father of an Ohio prep football player is suing the school after his son was suspended the remainder of the season for possessing an e-cigarette.

Earlier this month, Hoover High School junior A.J. Vega was given a two-day, in-school suspension when a coach noticed the e-cigarette fall from his pocket, according to Fox 8 in Cleveland. The family took no issue with the initial suspension, but the school then decided to suspend Vega for the last month of the football season.

Vega’s father, who filed the lawsuit, does not seek monetary damages but wants his son reinstated to the team. He claims the suspension does not fall in line with the school’s own policy.

From Fox 8:

The lawsuit does not dispute the school’s policy that tobacco, including e-cigarettes and vapor pens are prohibited on school grounds. But it points to a punishment policy for extra-curricular activities that states in-season violations will result in, “Immediate suspension from 10 percent of the interscholastic sport or activity.”

“The students last year and for many years before, if they had a tobacco-related violation or a vape violation, they were suspended for usually one game,” the attorney said.

Vega already has missed three games, and today is the final game of the regular season. A judge was scheduled to hear the case this morning.

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