A high school honors student has reached an agreement with the Washoe County School District to settle a federal lawsuit against administrators he accused of helping students bully him with hoax calls to an anonymous school threats hotline.
The case alleged that the District violated Lucas Gorelick’s right to be free from unreasonable searches at Reno High School in response to anonymous tips received through SafeVoice.
As part of that agreement, the District and the Gorelicks agreed to issue the below joint press release.
The District and the Gorelicks recognize the imperative of school safety to students, faculty, and administrators. The Gorelick family recognizes the District’s need to respond to SafeVoice tips and that the administrators at Reno High School acted in good faith.
The District’s arguments in court about high achieving students posing a potential risk were hypothetical and were taken out of context as reported. These comments were never intended to describe Lucas Gorelick or his conduct.
The District will work with Law Enforcement, SafeVoice, and the Nevada Department of Education to identify potential misuse of SafeVoice. The District believes that its searches were constitutional, and Lucas Gorelick disagrees. The District, however, recognizes that Lucas Gorelick was never a threat and congratulates Lucas for his many accomplishments, including graduating a year early.
(Washoe County School District)
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Original story from May 27, 2022:
A high school honors student in Nevada says in federal court that he’s being bullied by students and harassed by campus administrators who search him for a gun every time someone identifies him through an anonymous school threats hotline.
Graduating Reno High School junior Lucas Gorelick said Friday he thinks he's being targeted because of his Jewish heritage, his work with Democratic party candidates and his school achievements.
His father compared using the anonymous SafeVoice system to say his son has a gun to “swatting,” or hoax police calls.
A federal judge on Wednesday referred to school violence and declined to order school administrators to stop the searches.
(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
