January 21, 2026
The suit claims that Kellam High Principal Ryan Schubart, the superintendent, and the chief of schools put out a false narrative of the initial incident.
Five white high school students from Virginia have filed a $10 million civil lawsuit claiming defamation against the principal who suspended them after they allegedly gifted fried chicken and watermelon to a Black special education student, Blavity reports.
Six students were involved, according to reports, but only five filed lawsuits, including petitions for judicial review of three students’ suspensions and a $3 million lawsuit.
As the incident happened in March 2025, initial lawsuits were filed over the summer. But recent litigation alleges that Kellam High Principal Ryan Schubart, the superintendent, and the chief of schools put out a false narrative of the initial incident, resulting in immense damages, including harm to students’ reputations.
According to The Virginian-Pilot, on March 12, 2025, the special education student was presented with a birthday card full of handwritten well wishes and other gifts, including candy, a bag of fried chicken, watermelon, and grape Kool-Aid.
School security cameras captured students hugging and laughing after the gift exchange. The teacher felt Schubart needed to be aware that the kids who gave the fried chicken were white; the student was Black.
The white teens told the principal it was just a joke, that the birthday person thought it was funny, and even requested the gift. Schubart sent a notice to the students’ parents, making them aware of the incident and the consequences of suspension.
According to the lawsuit, Schubart’s initial memo contained “reckless disregard for the truth,” causing harm to the plaintiffs’ “reputations, emotional well-being and prospects.” The suit claims the students have been physically threatened, stalked, and confronted by strangers and that they have suffered damage to their property.
“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.
There have been conflicting accounts of what happened that day, with a witness claiming the receiver said, “You’ve got to be kidding me” after receiving the “gift.” The same report alleged that the birthday person described the gift as “Black people’s food.”
Tim Anderson, who is representing the student plaintiffs, released a statement claiming that the victim “thought the card was funny.”
“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,” Anderson said.
Hours after the issue, community and school board members, as well as NAACP representatives, contacted the school.
“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,” Virginia Beach School Board Member Melinda Rogers wrote in a lengthy Facebook post, saying she was “sickened, disgusted, and heartbroken” by the incident.
“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,” Rogers added.
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