A California High School is going to have to pay up after a Santa Clara County jury ruled against them in a lawsuit over students it essentially accused of being racist. This case is one of several demonstrating how progressive characteristics are becoming increasingly prevalent in many schools.

The lawsuit centered on Saint Francis High School, a private Catholic institution, whose leadership decided to expel two students for supposedly posting a picture on social media in which they wore blackface. The problem? The kids were not actually wearing blackface as the school claimed.

A Santa Clara County jury has awarded $1 million and tuition reimbursement to two former students who sued an elite Catholic high school in Mountain View, saying administrators forced them out over an alleged blackface photo that actually showed teens masked in acne medication.

The jury sided with the plaintiffs on two claims against Saint Francis High School, for breach of oral contract and lack of due process, said Frank Hughes, the father of one of the students. However, Hughes said, he and the other plaintiffs lost on three other claims alleging breach of contract, defamation and a violation of free speech.

“Our primary goal was to clear (our clients)’ names,” the plaintiffs’’ attorney, Krista Baughman, said in an interview after the jury award, which was handed down Monday. “It was quite clear the jury believed these were innocent face masks. They are young kids, their Internet trail is going to haunt them for the next 60 years. Now they don’t have to worry about that.”

Those representing the school said they “respectfully disagree with the jury’s conclusion as to the lesser claim regarding the fairness of our disciplinary review process” and indicated they might seek an appeal.

The incident occurred in August 2017 when a boy experiencing acne wore a mask.

In August 2017, a boy identified as A.H. in the lawsuit donned a green mask that his mother had purchased, intended to cure severe acne. He snapped a bathroom selfie with another boy in a white acne mask. The following day A.H., a friend referred to as H.H., and a third boy, Minor III, rubbed green medication on their faces in solidarity and took a picture of themselves, according to the lawsuit. Court exhibits show a photo of three shirtless boys, one flashing rock ‘n roll horns.

Although the students said they had taken the photos not out of racial animus but as a joke, it went viral amid a national reckoning over race and inequality. Some who viewed the photo believed it was clearly intended as a depiction of blackface. One parent shared the photo ahead of a planned march to protest “outrageous behavior” online and pressure the school to take action.

However, the pictures were not discovered until 2020 amid the national controversy over the murder of George Floyd. Students and parents connected to the school argued that the boys were making a racist joke and applied public pressure to have them removed from the school.

The lawsuit accused the school of using “the innocent and wholly unrelated photograph of the boys to make the malicious and utterly false accusation that the boys had been engaging in ‘blackface,’ and to recklessly assert that the photograph was ‘another example’ of racism at SFHS.”

There have been multiple “scandals” involving blackface over recent years. In November, a Deadspin author attempted to smear a nine-year-old child for supposedly wearing blackface at a Kansas City Chiefs game. It was later revealed that the young boy was wearing the team’s colors.

These incidents, as well as others, come against the backdrop of heightened racial tensions in America.