So according to the record the penalty mark was for “staff conversation”. That sounds more likely it was given for talking back to the student manager than for making the girl cry.
What is a student manager anyway?
If the claim comes back that he was rude to the student manager, the situation and power dynamics are completely different. Your son was in the very difficult situation of being told something about basic science that he knew or strongly suspected to be very far from correct. It’s far less likely he was rude to the SM. I doubt he told her to shut up.
I think I would take the approach CharleyParley outlined (pasted below). I think if he has effectively been given this mark because of a disagreement with a student manager who was telling him something incorrect, then there’s a further problem that a person in the school, who has power over vulnerable students, is propagating an incorrect view, which could have negative consequences for other students. Even if it wasn’t for the potential risk from the medical establishment and puberty blockers (worst case scenario for many girls) it’s still the equivalent of a member of staff taking aside a student and chastising them for believing in evolution and informing him that creationism is the appropriate view, which is 100% not okay.
Take all the fire out of this (though arguably belief in sexed brains has more potential negative consequences). If you suspected the student manager had indeed taken him outside and told him he was wrong about evolution and told him the creationist view was correct, what would you do then?
I think, beyond the penalty mark, I would be concerned about this person having power over children, while she continues to hold and express a false view around a subject that is very controversial, for a number of reasons. And the more the conversation in this thread has gone on, the more I think I’d want to be questioning the school, not over my son’s actions, but over those of the student manager, who (according to your son) didn’t take your son out to chastise him over being rude, but to lecture him over his perfectly reasonable views. Which should definitely not go unchallenged, if true.
CharleyParley’s outlined plan for finding out:
”If he came to me with this incident, I would send an email to the student manager saying that I had just noticed the penalty mark, and as he has never had one in his entire time at school, I would like to know what it was for and how I could support the school in ensuring this doesn't happen again.”
”If you want to open this up to a freedom of thought issue, you can do that later. If you receive an incomplete answer (he was rude to another pupil), I would go back and say, having had a chat with my son about this, I understand he had a difference of opinion with another student. Is he getting punished for arguing, for the opinion he expressed or for disrupting the class? If the first or last, did the other student receive the same penalty? What is the student manager doing to reconcile the children? If it is for the opinion, can you explain why and so on.”