VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — The Virginia Beach school district has been found in contempt of court for failing to fully comply with a judge's order to expunge disciplinary records tied to five Kellam High School students accused of racial harassment.
A judge ordered the district to pay $6,831.50 in attorney fees and threatened a $1,000-per-day fine starting Sept. 2 if the records were not destroyed.
The case began in March 2025, when the Kellam High School principal sent an email to parents accusing five students of racially harassing a Black student and promising full disciplinary action. Court records said the boys gave the student handwritten notes on a birthday card, a bag of fried chicken, and candy.
Attorney Tim Anderson, who represents some of the accused students, said the school division took their actions out of context.
"These were teenage boys with a friend... goofing off for his birthday..."
Anderson said the district overreacted in its response to the incident.
"They dragged these boys... city square... look at these racial harassers and look at how strong we're going to be about this..."
Anderson took the case to court in Virginia Beach, and a judge ruled in his clients' favor, ordering the school division to expunge the boys' records and destroy any disciplinary records connected to the racial harassment allegations.
During a court hearing Monday, the judge learned the school district still had records in its possession.
"And the witness said they did remove it of the electronic records, but they maintained all the paper records still in a file cabinet at the office of student leadership," Anderson said.
In court transcripts, the school district's attorneys said:
"We thought, based upon everything that happened in the hearing in July and removing and vacating the disciplinary action from the only record that would ever be produced, that we had complied with the order."
The judge disagreed and found the district in contempt.
Anderson said the city has since come into compliance.
"The city of Virginia Beach has informed me as of today that they have now updated all of the paper records of all three boys that the judge ordered the decisions vacated," Anderson said.
I reached out to the Virginia Beach school district, but a spokesperson said the district does not comment on pending litigation.
Anderson said he was surprised the district did not comply sooner.
"It's not whether you agree or disagree you should expect the school board to follow court orders," Anderson said.
Anderson said he plans to donate the nearly $7,000 from the court order to teachers' classrooms across the city.
In addition to this case, Anderson has a pending $10 million federal civil rights lawsuit against the school division on behalf of four of the boys.
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