Christian Ranieri, Student With Autism, Barred From Giving Speech At School Board Meeting (VIDEO)

[Jefferson23]

* As I understand it, the child now has a civil rights attorney helping to advocate for him.

A 14-year-old boy protesting a suspension he says was unfair was recently forbidden from giving a prepared speech at a school board meeting. Video of the incident has gone viral online, but school officials are standing by their decision.

It all started when high school freshman Christian Ranieri, who has autism, began reading prepared remarks to his school board in Northport, N.Y. He wanted to ask the board to review a recent suspension he'd been given, arguing that it was discriminatory and would cause a stain to his record.

But officials would not let him give his speech -- which he told local news site Northport Patch he'd spent three hours working on -- because of a law that prevents disciplinary matters from being discussed in public venues.

Click the video above to watch.

After Northport Patch picked up the story early Wednesday morning, it promptly went viral. But the school board says it stands by its decision to prevent Ranieri from delivering his speech.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/10/christian-ranieri-school-board-autistic-speech-video_n_4072754.html

[Tigress DEM]

1. Maybe it was enough to get his case reviewd any way.

Not discussing disciplinary matters in public IS basically a protection for the kids too.

[Tigress DEM]

2. BUT now the whole world is watching so they need to make it right.

[Jefferson23]

4. The pressure will hopefully shame them to make it right..the kid deserves

much better. His civil rights attorney disagrees with the boards opinion
about the privacy issue...his parents commented that at the very least,
why didn't the board let him speak to them in private instead of just
shutting him down.

I think this kid is awesome, his potential is huge so I imagine his parents
will assist him to continue advocating for his rights.

[liberal_at_heart]

3. Good for him. He sounds like he has great self advocacy skills.