EXPELLED STUDENT TO GET HEARING

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 7, 1993                   TAG: 9304070189
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS                                LENGTH: Medium
EXPELLED STUDENT TO GET HEARING
A judge has ordered a Christian high school to give an expelled student a chance to answer an allegation that he engaged in immoral conduct by trying to have sex with his 14-year-old girlfriend.
The Denbigh Baptist Christian School expelled 17-year-old Willie Corey in February without asking him about the allegation.
In a nine-page decision released Monday, Circuit Judge Robert P. Frank said the school must conduct a hearing within 10 days giving Corey a chance to defend himself. Corey, who has denied the accusation, will get to present evidence and question the school's witnesses with the help of an attorney.
Frank's decision stopped short of reinstating Corey to the private school.
The teen-ager's attorney argued at a hearing two weeks ago that Corey would suffer irreparable harm if not immediately allowed to return. The expulsion would prevent Corey from graduating this year and receiving a scholarship to Liberty University, said attorney Stephen M. Smith.
But evidence showed that poor grades would have kept Corey from graduating anyway, Frank's opinion said. Also, Corey had not proved that he had been offered a scholarship to the Lynchburg school, the judge wrote.
Reinstating a student deemed to be in violation of Denbigh Baptist's code of conduct would hamstring the school's efforts to enforce discipline, Frank wrote.
"The student's very presence would challenge and erode the school's religious belief and its ability to enforce compliance," he wrote. "The nature of the violation was more than noncompliance with a dress code, attendance policy or rude behavior. The underlying conduct was an affront to their basic religious beliefs."
Corey and his mother, Sandra Corey, said the judge's decision proved they had been wronged. Smith said he was confident Corey would win reinstatement if the school hearing is conducted fairly.
The school's principal and its attorney could not be reached.
The school expelled Corey after administrators talked to the 14-year-old girl's father, a teacher at the school. The father said his daughter admitted to engaging in immoral conduct with Corey. The girl also was expelled.
Corey and his mother filed a lawsuit against the school last month asking for $3 million and reinstatement.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB