For example, the administration can preemptively suppress expressive speech in the form of a confederate flag on a shirt if they can foresee a disruption with facts such as the community considers the flag a symbol of racism (Barr v. The administration cannot limit speech on a loosely held belief that the speech might disrupt there has to be valid arguments to forecast such a disruption. The standard for fettering student speech is very high. The question is, “Can or has the speech caused a substantial disruption?” Speech can be limited if there is a good faith, reasonably founded belief that the speech will lead to a disruption or has led to a disruption. ![]() The test for protected speech for students and educators is substantial disruption. This Supreme Court decision supported the district’s decision to discipline high schooler Fraser for delivering a lewd speech with sexual references to the student body during government nominations.Īlthough there are obvious areas of speech that aren’t protected, such as the “vulgar” speech Fraser gave in the Bethel case, there are also limits to areas of speech usually considered protected speech. In the decades to follow Tinker, courts have heard challenges to school speech, such as the landmark case Bethel School District v. ![]() Justice Abe Fortas, writing for the majority, said students and faculty don’t lose their First Amendment rights to freedom of speech at the schoolhouse gate. Supreme Court delivered the final opinion in favor of the students in a 7–2 majority. The Tinkers’ lost their freedom of speech court case in both the district court and the Eighth Circuit Court. In December 1965, students Mary Beth and John Tinker and Christopher Eckhardt were suspended for wearing black armbands to school to show support of a truce in the Vietnam War. There are many pitfalls and places where exercising First Amendment rights can go wrong for an educator.Ĭourt cases defining the freedom and limitations of the First Amendment in schools began with Tinker v. Students’ First Amendment rights are a complicated, fact-intensive, case-determinant area of law however, the law is even more complicated for educators. Speech is not only written and oral speech but also expression such as wearing political clothing. ![]() The First Amendment says Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech or of the press or the right of the people peaceably to assemble. What are the limits of your First Amendment rights, and what tools can you legally use to raise your students’ awareness to injustices within the district’s content-neutral policy?įirst Amendment rights within the school environment have required special consideration from the courts for more than five decades. You are told the Black Lives Matter movement is political and, therefore, falls under the content-neutral policy. Your district has a content-neutral policy banning political conversations and symbols. This unique time in the country’s history stirred in you an urgency to seize the moment to bring important conversations about respecting diversity to the students in your school. You joined the rallying cry in the summer of racial reckoning following the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery.
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