California Student Sues School District After Receiving a C+

While some may be thrilled by the prospect of receiving an average C+, California student Bowen Bethards isn't one of them. In fact, the 17-year-old recently filed a lawsuit against his teacher and school district for receiving such a grade.

According to court records, Bethards earned a C+ in chemistry during the 2010-11 school year at Albany High School in Albany, CA. As a result of the grade, he reportedly endured physical and mental suffering, and sustained a serious blow to his academic record, which could prevent him from getting into the college of his choice.

The Bethards family claims that teacher Peggy Carlock prevented him from making up work after an excused absence. "We did everything we could to get the school to allow him to make up that lab and they assured us they would," said Bethards' mother, Laureen. "It was an excused absence.  I don't think he missed more than one or two days the entire year before that."

So, the family filed a $10,000 claim against the school district last year. While the district rejected the claim in January, they did change Bethards' grade to a B. Still, that's not good enough for the family, who wants the grade changed to an A+ and monetary damages as well.

"He had his grade taken away from him and got a C instead of the A that he'd worked so hard all year long to achieve by a teacher who, I discovered, had a habit of doing this to students," said Laureen.  "This is a kid who worked every day, worked on the weekends, studied and had earned his grade in chemistry."

What do you think? Does Bethards have a case?