Teens forced out of exclusive California Catholic school for doing ‘blackface’ are awarded $1 million after proving it was green acne medication

Two California teenagers forced to withdraw from an elite Catholic school over blackface allegations have been awarded $1 million and tuition reimbursement.

A Santa Clara County jury sided with the teens, identified by the initials AH and HH, on two claims involving breach of oral contracts and lack of due process.

The boys sued Saint Francis High School in August 2020 after photos circulated of them sporting acne treatment masks.

The controversy began when the boys were accused of blackface and eventually pressured to withdraw from the prestigious Mountain View school.

“It was pretty clear that the jury believed these were innocent face masks,” attorney Krista Baughman said San Francisco Chronicle after Monday’s ruling.

‘They are young children, their internet trail will follow them for the next sixty years. Now they don’t have to worry about that.’

The teens lost on three other claims for breach of contract, defamation and infringement of freedom of expression.

Prosecutors initially sought $20 million when they filed suit in Santa Clara County Superior Court, three years after she and a friend — who attended a different school and was not involved in the lawsuit — took a selfie while wearing acne treatment masks.

In the offending photo, the boys’ faces were covered in dark green medicine. A photo taken a day earlier showed they had also tried on white face masks.

According to documents reviewed by DailyMail.com, another SFHS student obtained a copy of the photo from a friend’s Spotify account and uploaded it to a group chat in June 2020.

The photo resurfaced on the same day that recent SFHS graduates created a meme about the killing of George Floyd, sparking its own outrage and controversy.

The student insinuated that the teens were using “blackface” and deemed the photo as “yet another example” of SFHS students being racist, before urging everyone in the group chat to spread the photo to the entire school community.

On June 4, 2020, dean of students Ray Hisatake called the boys’ parents to ask if they were aware of the photo.

The parents alleged that the teens had worn green face masks three years earlier, “without malicious intent or racial motivation, nor even knowing what ‘blackface’ meant,” according to the complaint.

Less than four hours later, Principal Katie Teekell called HH’s parents and said the teen was “not welcome at SFHS.”

When the boy’s father reiterated that his son had not engaged in blackface, Teekell responded that her decision was not based on “intention” but on “optics” and “the damage done to the St. Francis community ‘.

Teekell said HH could choose to withdraw ‘voluntarily’, rather than be expelled, with the incident expunged from his student record.

“At no time did Ms. Teekell, or anyone else from the SFHS administration, offer to investigate the allegations against the boys, or to assist in any way in removing the photo,” the lawsuit said.

On June 17, the school’s attorney told the families that the “disrespect” was so serious that immediate dismissal was warranted.

The school then supported a protest from parents who used the image as evidence of “children participating in black face (sic) and thinking this was all a joke,” according to a Facebook page.

The teens eventually withdrew on June 19, but HH encountered a problem when he tried to join his new school’s football team.

Despite Teekell’s promise, SFHS had to announce that he had changed schools to avoid disciplinary action. As a result, he would not be allowed to play sports for a year according to regional rules.

The lawsuit alleged that the principal’s breach of her oral agreement constituted a breach of the oral contract.

HH eventually moved to Utah with his family to pursue football eligibility during his senior year of high school.

As part of the jury award, SFHS must reimburse the teen’s moving and living expenses.

“This lawsuit is our attempt to redeem our name and reputation, and to correct the facts to reflect the truth of what actually happened,” the boys’ families said in a joint statement at the time.

“A photo of this innocent event was plucked from obscurity and grossly mischaracterized during the height of nationwide social unrest.

They claimed that the SFHS and its leaders had “rejected” their efforts to correct the misunderstanding and “seemed to have no interest in entertaining the truth.”

Judge Thang Barrett decided not to dismiss the lawsuit in January 2021, noting that there was no evidence of an investigation into the case by administrators.

After Monday’s verdict, SFHS released its own statement.

Representatives for the school said they “respectfully disagree with the jury’s conclusion on the lesser claim regarding the fairness of our disciplinary review process.”

SFHS is now exploring “legal options,” including an appeal.