Spring High student fights expulsion after gang affiliation accusation

Officials are calling it "due process for students involved in disciplinary matters"

SPRING, Texas – A Spring High School student is claiming a district investigator coerced him into taking a picture that is now being used to expel him from school.

Representing Ladaydrick Heard, 16, and his parents at a meeting with Spring ISD officials Friday, community activist Quanell X claimed the sophomore was coerced into taking a picture depicting student flashing an apparent gang sign.

"Right here in his own words," Quanell X said while holding what he claimed was original documentation from the investigation.

"The investigator asked the young man to pose making the gang sign and take the picture in a private office on this campus after the young man reputedly told him he was not in a gang."

Dozens of students are reportedly in the midst of what Spring ISD officials are calling "due process for students involved in disciplinary matters." Citing student privacy laws, district officials said they cannot talk specifically about students' disciplinary matters.

According to a Spring ISD statement, "Students who violate the Spring ISD Student Code of Conduct are assigned appropriate disciplinary action, which may include assignment to a disciplinary alternative education program such as High Point or an expulsion to the Juvenile Justice Alternative Education Program."

An investigation into gang activity was launched shortly after the fatal stabbing that occurred at Spring High School on September 4.  Josh Broussard, 17, was killed and three others were injured.  Detectives claim gang rivalry was the motive.