Five white students in Virginia filed civil lawsuits after being suspended over an alleged racist birthday prank involving a Black special education student in March 2025.

What’s happening with the Kellam High School lawsuit?

According to 13 News Now, six students from Kellam High School in Virginia Beach, Virginia, were initially involved in the incident. However, only five have filed lawsuits: a $10 million defamation lawsuit, three petitions for judicial review regarding three of the students’ suspensions and a $3 million lawsuit.

As Atlanta Black Star notes, Court documents from the most recent lawsuit allege that the school’s principal, superintendent, and chief of schools fabricated a misleading account of the initial incident, resulting in damages, including harm to the student’s reputation.

The incident happened on March 12, 2025, when the group of students allegedly gifted the Black student a bag filled with racially-stereotypical items, including fried chicken, watermelon and grape Kool-Aid.

The principal at Kellam High School said the students would be ‘disciplined’ for their actions

Several hours after the incident, Kellam High Principal Ryan Schubart emailed the students’ families, informing them that one of them had been harassed by a group of students. In the letter, Schubart said the students would “be disciplined to the fullest extent possible” based on the school’s code of conduct for its students, per 13 News Now.

On the other hand, the families’ attorney claimed in the lawsuit that the incident was a “humorous gesture” and that the adults are making it a bigger deal.

“They gave their friend a birthday gift, and in hindsight, was it the smartest thing to do? No. But these are ninth graders, and ninth graders don’t make the best judgment, so the context matters,” Tim Anderson, the attorney representing the student plaintiffs, said in a statement obtained by 13 News Now.

Per 13 News Now, the lawsuit states: “Video evidence from security cameras of the exchange shows the Plaintiffs, the gift recipient, and other students laughing, hugging, and engaging in friendly behavior. Teachers and staff members were present in the vicinity, observing from a distance, but no intervention occurred by any adult.”

What did the initial investigation report state?

Through an initial investigation report, a witness shared contrasting details about what actually happened that day. After the students gifted the bag to the Black student, he reportedly said, “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

In the same report, the victim stated, “What they handed me in the bag was Black people food.” However, Anderson said that the student sent text messages to the group, claiming what he said was forced.

“He thought the card was funny,” Anderson told 13 News Now. “They gave him a birthday card for a girl, even. And they wrote things in there that they thought were funny, the adults didn’t, and I agree with them, they probably weren’t funny.”

According to the report, the Black students’ parents are asking for him to transfer schools.

‘These statements falsely accused the minor plaintiffs’

Virginia Beach School Board Member Melinda Rogers wrote in a Facebook post about the incident, saying she was “sickened, disgusted, and heartbroken” by the students’ actions.

“While the perpetrators were children, they must be taught that these egregious acts will not be tolerated in Virginia Beach or at Kellam High School,” she wrote in part. “I urge the Kellam community to speak to their own children this evening and reinforce why these racist actions are wrong and why they must never be complicit in them.”

Meanwhile, the lawsuit blames Principal Schubart, stating that he sent the initial memo with “reckless disregard for the truth,” causing harm to the plaintiffs’ “reputations, emotional well-being and prospects,” 13 News Now reported.

“These statements falsely accused the minor Plaintiffs of engaging in racist harassment, despite evidence to the contrary, including video footage and the context of the events in question,” the lawsuit said.

The students involved in the incident were suspended and prohibited from returning to the school for the rest of the school year.