Snohomish High School calls nickname derogatory; suspends teen for T-shirt

An item on the Snohomish School District's Web site refers to the football team's "SnoHo" traditions. And "Snoho Mojo" is both a headline in the school yearbook and the name of a local espresso stand.

But when Snohomish High senior Justin Patrick wore a T-shirt to school last month with the lettering "SNOHOS" across the front, it led to his suspension from school.

School officials say "Snohos" contains a slang term for prostitutes and is derogatory toward women.

"As a woman, I am sure that you can appreciate our desire in Snohomish to maintain respect for all members of our community, especially our young women, and to not allow the abbreviated form of our school name to be used to reference them as 'ho's,' " said district spokeswoman Shannon Parthemer, in response to an e-mail query about the suspension.

Patrick and four friends say Snohos is their name for their tight group of friends and was coined four years ago when they started filming videos for fun.

"We tried Snohomians, but that was too long," said Kyle Butcher.

Another friend, Mac Stach, said they never considered the term derogatory.

Until Patrick was sent to the office last month for not having a calculator in math class, he and his friends say no one had objected to the shirts that Butcher said they wear to school "all the time."

Vice Principal Robynn Harrington told Patrick the shirt "didn't seem appropriate" for school and that he needed to cover it up. Patrick said that when he protested, Harrington called in another vice principal to confirm that the shirt violated the school dress code, which prohibits any display of words, pictures or references to alcohol, tobacco, weapons, guns or sexual innuendo.

Frustrated, Patrick said he walked out of the office and returned to class. When he was called back by a security officer the next period and was again told to cover up the shirt, Patrick said he lost his temper and used "a few choice words."

He got a one-day suspension for dress-code violation and sexual harassment and a second day for "gross insubordination."

Patrick's father, Barry Patrick, regrets that his son lost his temper with a school official. But he also can't believe his son was suspended for adding an "s" to a common abbreviation.

He showed administrators photocopies of the 2004 yearbook, where the word "Snoho" appears several times and one headline refers to students as "Snohomies."

Legal experts say while students enjoy broad protections for political speech, schools may restrict dress or behavior that disrupts the educational environment.

Stewart Jay, a constitutional-law scholar at the University of Washington, said courts generally defer to school administrators when it comes to determining what's offensive or indecent. But he said calling a word derogatory when it isn't aimed at any particular individual falls into a legal "gray area."

In a show of solidarity, all four boys yesterday wore their "SNOHOS" shirts to school. Two were told to cover up the lettering, and they did. The other two boys' shirts went unnoticed, they said.

Lynn Thompson: 425-745-7807 or lthompson@seattletimes.com