Green Muniyr Trevor v. Khalid Mumin, et al.

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedMarch 13, 2026
Docket2:23-cv-04847
StatusUnknown

This text of Green Muniyr Trevor v. Khalid Mumin, et al. (Green Muniyr Trevor v. Khalid Mumin, et al.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Green Muniyr Trevor v. Khalid Mumin, et al., (E.D. Pa. 2026).

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA

GREEN MUNIYR TREVOR, : Plaintiff, : : v. : CIVIL ACTION NO. 23-CV-4847 : KHALID MUMIN, et al., : Defendants. :

MEMORANDUM OPINION Pro se plaintiff Green Muniyr Trevor (“Plaintiff”) asserts twenty-one causes of action against four individuals associated with, in varying degrees, the Mathematics, Civics and Sciences Charter School (the “Charter School”), a public charter school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Plaintiff’s claims, ranging from constitutional violations to violations of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the “American Declaration on Indigenous Peoples,”1 all relate to his son’s enrollment as a student at the Charter School. According to Plaintiff, his son was required to abide by school policies, including uniform and attendance policies, contrary to Plaintiff’s cultural and religious beliefs. (Am. Compl., ECF No. 7, ¶¶ 53, 55.) The Charter School policies were allegedly “stopping [Plaintiff] from exercising all of his natural parental rights and cultural customs.” (Id. ¶ 55.) For the harms he suffered from these purported violations, Plaintiff requests declaratory and unspecified injunctive relief, as well as monetary and punitive damages. (Id. ¶ 77.)

1 Plaintiff’s Amended Complaint repeatedly uses the phrase “The American Declaration on Indigenous People’s.” (See Am. Compl. ¶ ¶ 10–21, 23–31.) We take his use of this phrase to refer to the American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, a 2016 declaration passed by the Organization of American States. See https://www.oas.org/en/sare/documents/decamind.pdf. The defendants have all moved to dismiss pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). For the following reasons, their motions will be granted, and the Amended Complaint is dismissed with prejudice. I. FACTS2 A. The Parties

Plaintiff is “a living indigenous Man, sui generis, sui juris in propria persona.” (Am. Compl. ¶ 38.) He represents that he is a “supporter of a known revolutionary group” and is “not a citizen of any state nor a citizen of the United States but domicile[d] in the free republic of [P]ennsylvania.” (Id. ¶ 73.) His son—who is not a Plaintiff in this case—attended the Charter School in the fall of 2023, when the events giving rise to the Complaint took place. (Trevor Aff. ¶ 12.) Defendants are Khalid Mumin (“Mumin”), Secretary for the Pennsylvania Department of Education; Tony Watlington, Sr. (“Watlington”), Superintendent of the School District of Philadelphia; Veronica Joyner (“Joyner”), Chief Administrator and Founder of the Charter School;

and Spencer Hill (“Hill”), the Charter School’s Treasurer and a member of its Board of Trustees (collectively, “Defendants”). (Am. Compl. ¶¶ 39–41.) Plaintiff purports to sue Defendants “in their individual capacity and not as agents of the State [o]f Pennsylvania or the United States.” (Am. Compl. ¶ 69.) B. The Conflict at School In October 2023, Plaintiff sent a letter to Joyner, the chief administrator and founder of the Charter School, expressing concern about the school’s policies. (Trevor Aff. ¶ 1.) In the letter, he

2 All facts are taken from Plaintiff’s Amended Complaint (ECF No. 7) and the “Affidavit and Memorandum in Support of Petition for Deprivation of Human Rights/Conspiracy to Deprive Plaintiff of Protected Rights and Failure to Protect Plaintiff from Conspiracy” attached thereto (the “Trevor Affidavit”). explained that he did not want his son to be forced to comply with the school’s uniform policy— a dress shirt, dress pants, dress shoes, and a tie—because of the uniform’s relation to “British culture.” (Id. ¶ 2.) He explained that the uniform “is not what his family wear[s].” (Id.) In addition to taking issue with the uniform requirement, Plaintiff also explained that he wanted to “homeschool his child 4 (four) days out of every month so that he can make sure his son is

developing properly according to their family’s religion and culture.” (Id.) On November 9, 2023, Plaintiff met with Joyner. She confirmed receipt of Plaintiff’s letter and told Plaintiff his son would not be forced to wear a tie to school going forward. (Id. ¶ 3.) On November 13, 2023, however, Joyner emailed Plaintiff to explain that “she could not honor his beliefs, views and perspectives because of her school’s policy and Pa standards.” (Id. ¶ 4.) She also claimed that Pennsylvania “compulsory statu[t]es forbid[] children to be absent more than 3 days without explanation.” (Id.) During the following week, Plaintiff wrote several more letters. He sent another letter to Joyner, claiming that “she must honor his beliefs views and perspectives pursuant to law and

further explaining to her his explanations on his stance.” (Trevor Aff. ¶ 5.) He also sent a letter to the Charter School’s Board of Trustees, of which Hill was a member, notifying him of the situation and claiming the board must honor his cultural beliefs. (Id. ¶ 6.) He sent similar letters to Mumin, Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Education, and Watlington, Superintendent of the School District of Philadelphia (“SDP”). (Id. ¶¶ 7–8.) An administrative assistant for Mumin confirmed receipt of Plaintiff’s letter but told him that “it was a local school district matter and should be handled by” SDP. (Trevor Aff. ¶ 9.) A separate administrator forwarded the letter addressed to Mumin to Watlington’s office. (Id. ¶ 11.) On November 20, 2023, Plaintiff picked his son up from school and noticed he was still wearing a tie. (Trevor Aff. ¶ 12.) His son had told his teacher that his father did not want him to wear a tie, and that if he was mandated to wear a tie in order to remain at school, someone should call Plaintiff. Id. That same day, Plaintiff forwarded “his letter” to a school receptionist, intending it to reach Joyner and the Charter School Board of Trustees. (Id. ¶ 13.)

On December 4, 2023, someone called Plaintiff to pick his son up from school because he was not wearing a tie or a dress shirt, and thus not in compliance with the Charter School’s uniform policy. (Trevor Aff. ¶ 15.) Instead of a dress shirt and tie, Plaintiff’s son wore a turtleneck shirt and “religious/cultural necklace” representative of his culture. (Id.) Plaintiff claims that “[m]embers of the school . . . [were] intending to remove [P]laintiff’s child[’s] shirt and make him put on a collar school shirt,” and “wanted him to cover up his necklace with a tie.” (Id.) The school, however, apparently did not have a spare shirt of appropriate size for Plaintiff’s son, so they called Plaintiff and had him pick his son up. (Id.) Plaintiff again forwarded his letters to Joyner and the Board of Trustees. Joyner allegedly

expressed that the “only solution for [P]laintiff’s concerns was to remove his son from her school.” (Trevor Aff. ¶ 17.) However, Plaintiff’s son’s mother wanted her son to attend the Charter School, “so [P]laintiff did not agree with removing him to another school.” (Id. ¶ 18.) That same day, December 4, 2023, Plaintiff spoke to Joyner on the phone. (Id. ¶ 19.) Joyner confirmed receipt of Plaintiff’s letters and told him she did not have time to respond. (Id.) Joyner told Plaintiff that if he did not want his son to comply with the Charter School’s uniform policy, he could enroll his son in a school that did not have a uniform policy. (Id.) Plaintiff told Joyner that he wanted his son to attend the Charter School and “expect[ed] her to respect his wishes.” (Id.) Unable to reach a mutually agreeable solution, Plaintiff began homeschooling his son “because of discriminatory treatment towards him and his child.” (Id. ¶¶ 20–21.) Plaintiff then filed this lawsuit. II. STANDARD OF REVIEW The Court construes the allegations of a pro se litigant liberally. Vogt v.

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Green Muniyr Trevor v. Khalid Mumin, et al., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/green-muniyr-trevor-v-khalid-mumin-et-al-paed-2026.