A Fayette County

Middle School student is appealing her semester-long suspension from school

to Fayette County Superior Court.

According to

court records, the student was suspended for having inappropriate sexual

contact with another student while a movie was being shown in a science

class. The student was suspended earlier this year but was allowed to

attend Fayette County Alternative School during the suspension period.

The student

admitted to the allegations but appealed the board's suspension on the

basis that it was the same penalty handed out to the other student involved

in the incident, who allegedly pulled down his pants, according to documents

filed in the case.

Those records

also indicate that the student who filed the appeal had asked the male

student to pull his pants down a second time.

The student

appealing the suspension claimed that the punishment was too harsh when

the matter was appealed to the Georgia Board of Education. However, the

appeal was denied with "no showing that the local board abused its

discretion in affirming the decision to expel the student for one semester

because she admittedly and willfully engaged in the prohibited conduct."

The student

told school officials that at the time, she participated in the situation

"because I wanted to prove to my friends that I wasn't scared, and

that I wasn't a goody-good."