BIG BEAR CITY - Staff at Big Bear High School violated a student’s Constitutional right to free speech when they ousted her from class and ordered her to remove her T-shirt sporting the message "Prop. 8 Equals Hate," officials said.

Carole Ferraud, superintendent of Bear Valley Unified School District, issued a written apology to 16-year-old sophomore and class president Mariah Jimenez in order to stem a lawsuit against the school district by Jimenez and the American Civil Liberties Union.

Jimenez wore the tye-dyed shirt with the anti-Prop. 8 message to school Nov. 3, the day before California voters approved the controversial ballot measure that precludes homosexual couples from marrying legally in the state of California.

"The fact that you were put in a position to have to make a choice between removing your shirt or remaining in the administration office was, in fact, a violation of your freedom of speech," Ferraud wrote to Jimenez in a letter dated Jan. 12.

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