Mother sues Cabell school board, superintendent for son's suspension

HUNTINGTON -- A Huntington woman is suing the Cabell County Board of Education and the county superintendent after she claims they will not allow her son to return to Huntington High School and to the baseball team.

On April 22 Robert Chase Adkins, a minor, was suspended from Huntington High School for an indeterminate amount of days and was not given an opportunity to relay the facts of the incident that led to his suspension, according to a complaint filed April 27 in Cabell Circuit Court.

His mother, Heather Dennison, claims Adkins was also dismissed from the school baseball team.

Adkins was told on April 27 that he would not be reinstated to the high school or the baseball team, according to the suit.

Dennison claims Adkins is missing valuable instruction time and several baseball games and will likely not graduate at the end of the school year because of being suspended.

The actions of William Smith, the county superintendent, and the Board of Education, are causing irreparable harm from with Adkins cannot recover, according to the suit.

Dennison is seeking for the court to grant an injunction revoking Adkins' suspension and that he be reinstated to the baseball team. She is being represented by Kerry A. Nessel.

The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge F. Jane Hustead.

Cabell Circuit Court case number: 10-C-338