A 16-year-old student from the Denzel Washington School of the Arts asked the Mount Vernon City School District Board of Education on June 3 to rescind a three-day suspension she received after she posted on social media to bring attention to a male student’s list ranking girls by their bodies.

“My name is Renee Martin. I’m a 16-year-old sophomore at the Denzel Washington School of the Arts,” she told trustees during public comment. Martin said the original incident — a male student creating a list ranking girls — resulted in a five-day lunch detention for the student who created it, but that student leaders who raised concerns were later disciplined. “This suspension was labeled as cyberbullying, which I did not do. It was advocacy and a call for accountability,” she said.

Martin said she did not identify the student in her post and argued she acted to “raise awareness” and “discourage harassment.” She told the board she had a right to speak under the First Amendment and “under the whistleblower protection laws” and that she should not be punished for reporting harmful behavior. Martin said the suspension was placed on her academic record. When asked by a board member, she said she had been suspended for three days and that she was released from suspension the day before the meeting.

Martin asked the board to “show that the city of Mount Vernon school values justice and fairness by rescinding my suspension and protecting the rights of every student to advocate for themselves and their peers.” The board did not vote or take action on her request during the public-comment period.

Board members acknowledged receipt of the comment and asked follow-up questions about the suspension’s duration and whether she remained suspended; the superintendent or staff did not announce disciplinary changes at the meeting.

Martin’s remarks were part of a broader string of public comments at the meeting raising personnel and discipline concerns. The board’s public-comment rules, which were read at the start of the meeting, require speakers to give name and address and prohibit identifying or criticizing a specific student in public comment.