Two years after a 13-year-old student with autism and an intellectual disability was charged with threatening to blow up Ooltewah Middle School, the lawsuit over his arrest ended in mediation and a confidential settlement.
The resolution places an undisclosed amount of money in a special needs trust for the student, federal court records said. One of the family’s attorneys, Justin Gilbert, said the agreement served as a “check on knee-jerk reactions” to perceived school threats.
“The parties were able to arrive at a figure fair to both sides,” he said, “avoiding the expense and uncertainty of a trial, particularly for a child with special needs.”
The student’s mother sued Hamilton County Schools in January 2025 and later added Hamilton County as a defendant. The suit alleged officials violated her son’s First Amendment rights by punishing speech that did not constitute a true threat.