That’s been well-settled First Amendment law for 70 years, but some government officials are still not on top of it. Three years ago, a judge’s attempt to force people to say the Pledge hit the news; now, it’s a Florida teacher. According to Hernando Today, An Explorer K8 teacher was suspended [for five days without […]
Archive | Freedom of Speech at K-12 Schools
Can Public Elementary School Require Students to Wear Shirts With Mottoes?
That’s the issue in Frudden v. Pilling, a case I’ve blogged about before; I argued it before a Ninth Circuit panel (Judges N.R. Smith, Jacqueline Nguyen, and Gordon Quist [W.D. Mich.]) on Monday, and the argument video is now available, posted on YouTube. Ready to go viral!
California High School Blocks NRA T-Shirt Because It Depicts a Weapon
[UPDATE: The school has backed down, see below.] So reports CBS Los Angeles: Sophomore Haley Bullwinkle said when she wore her NRA shirt to Canyon High School last month, she landed in the principal’s office for violating the school’s dress code that forbids offensive, violent or divisive clothing…. The shirt … features a buck, an […]
Removing High School Student from Class for Saying “I Don’t Accept Gays” Violates First Amendment
So holds yesterday’s decision in Glowacki v. Howell Public School Dist. (E.D. Mich. June 19, 2013): Members of the Howell High School Gay Straight Alliance wanted to participate in a national campaign aimed at raising awareness of the bullying of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered youth on October 20, 2010. As such, the student group […]
School Excluding Anti-Religious Material from a “Limited Public Forum”
So allege the plaintiffs in Freedom From Religious Foundation v. Orange County School Board (M.D. Fla.), filed last week, and the letter from the school board — Exhibit A — bears this out. First, a bit of background. Some public schools have allowed religious groups to distribute Bibles at the school. This led to Establishment […]
No-Protest-Speech Policy at K-12 Schools
From Hatcher v. Desoto County School Dist. Bd. of Ed. (M.D. Fla. Apr. 5, 2013): Plaintiff [Amber Hatcher] seeks to organize and participate in the National Day of Silence at her high school in an effort to bring attention to the harms associated with bullying and harassment directed at lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students…. […]
NRA T-Shirt Is Back in School, in Multiple Copies
Several readers had e-mailed me about the story of a 14-year-old who was apparently told that he couldn’t wear an NRA T-shirt (which depicted a rifle), and then arrested when the dispute escalated. Yesterday, he was apparently back in school (see ABC News and Washington Times) wearing the shirt, and many classmates are wearing the […]
Interesting Student Speech Case
A reader e-mailed me yesterday to ask me what I thought about Taylor v. Roswell Indep. School Dist. (10th Cir. Apr. 8, 2013). I’m inclined to think that it’s about right, but in any event the facts seemed interesting enough to be worth a post. It all started with some students who opposed abortion, and […]
Ohio School Apparently Banning Pro-Gay-Rights T-Shirt
Here’s the shirt, as photographed by one of the students who organized this: U.S. News & World Report reports: The debate at Celina High School started after two female high school students celebrated the high school’s “Twin Day” last week by wearing shirts to school that read “Lesbian 1” and “Lesbian 2” on the back. […]
Public High School Math Teacher Allegedly Tells Student to Leave Class for Wearing Pro-Romney T-Shirt
So reports Philly.com, and there appears to be some acknowledgment from the school district that the teacher acted improperly: The teacher allegedly told the girl to take off the shirt, saying it was like wearing a Ku Klux Klan sheet. The teacher allegedly threatened to use a marker to cross out Romney’s name and that […]
Keeping Wolverines Out of Oklahoma City Schools
USA Today reports that a boy in an Oklahoma City kindergarten was required to turn his t-shirt inside-out because it violated state policy concerning appropriate school attire. Cooper Barton, 5, comes from a family of Michigan fans. He went to school wearing a maize and blue shirt with “The Big House,” the nickname for Michigan’s […]
Pro Bono Case Challenging Public School Shirt-With-School-Motto Requirement
I’m working right now on the Reply Brief in Frudden v. Pilling, a case I’m litigating in the Ninth Circuit; the chief (but not only) issue is whether Wooley v. Maynard, which held that people have the First Amendment right to obscure a state motto on license plates, secures public school students’ right to obscure […]
High School Bars Student From Wearing an Anti-Same-Sex-Marriage T-Shirt
Here’s a letter the ACLU of Connecticut wrote on the student’s behalf last week (italics added): We are writing on behalf of Wolcott High School junior Seth Groody and his parents. He states that Wolcott High School recently sponsored a “Day of Silence,” designed, in his understanding, to promote tolerance for alternative lifestyles, including homosexuality. […]
Ohio School District Relents, Allows “Jesus Is Not a Homophobe” T-Shirt
I blogged last month about the school district’s refusal to allow the shirt; “the message communicated by the student’s T-shirt,” the district argued, “was sexual in nature and therefore indecent and inappropriate in a school setting.” The student sued on First Amendment grounds, and Lambda Legal reports that the district has settled; here are the […]
May “Jesus Is Not a Homophobe” T-Shirt Be Banned from Public High School as “Indecent” and “Sexual”?
That’s what the Wayne (Ohio) Local School District Board of Education apparently believes. Waynesville High School Principal Randy Gebhardt barred high school student Maverick Couch from wearing this T-shirt, and when his action was challenged, the school district lawyer responded: It is the position of Wayne Local School District Board of Education that the message […]