By Joe Anuta
A parent is suing Christ the King High School in Ridgewood for expelling her son allegedly over a sexting incident.
The suit, filed in Queens Supreme Court, contends that the administration of Christ the King falsely expelled Joseph Farley for not handing over a cellphone to administrators during a Feb. 4 incident.
Joseph, a junior, was called out of class by Assistant Principal Carolann Timpone and asked for his phone, the suit said.
After Joseph refused to surrender the phone and called his mother, he was suspended and expelled a few days later, the suit said.
But Brenda Farley, Joseph’s mother, said the school’s own handbook does not stipulate expulsion as the punishment for possessing a phone in school. That is why in the suit’s petition she said a sexting episode between her son and another student was the actual reason.
“The petition refers to an incident involving my son and his ex-girlfriend, which I believe to be the real reason for his expulsion,” Farley said in an affidavit.
Administrators from Christ the King High School, at 68-02 Metropolitan Ave., declined to comment for this story.
They also did not tell Farley the reason for her son’s expulsion, the suit said.
The sexting episode began in the summer of 2010, when Joseph’s ex-girlfriend took sexually explicit photos of herself and sent them to Joseph’s phone, Farley said in the affidavit.
Farley thinks school administrators tried to confiscate Joseph’s phone to gain access to the pictures, even though she made her son delete them, the lawsuit said.
But after a party the weekend before Joseph was suspended, he met the ex-girlfriend, which is why Farley said she thinks the ex-girlfriend’s mother called the school to tip off administrators.
“I believe that the ex-girlfriend admitted to her mother that she had seen my son at the party and that the mother became angry at this. I further believe that the mother made up a story about my son spreading these photographs,” Brenda Farley said.
Reach reporter Joe Anuta by e-mail at januta@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4566.
