First Amendment: Student Expression
You are an Assistant Principal at a large public school in suburban Ohio. Population 75% white, 13% black, 7% Asian, 5 % Hispanic. You have had several incidents that have occurred recently. How do you "rule" on these scenarios? What do you do? Do you discipline the student? Yes or No? Why?
1A. An African-American student is wearing a t-shirt that reads "Black Lives Matter."
1B. A student is wearing a t-shirt with a confederate flag on it. The t-shirt reads, "Confederate Lives
Matter"
2. You pass the senior class president in the hall, a female student with straight A’s, and she is wearing a red bandana tied around her leg. In a nearby large city, gang violence is on the rise and one of the local gangs uses red clothing/hats to identify their gang.
3. A math teacher emails you that she has witnessed students wearing Corona Mexican beer t-shirts to school. You find out these students took a Spanish class trip to Mexico for spring break and bought them in Mexico.
4A. A male student is sent to the office by security for wearing a shirt depicting Donald Trump on a “Wanted Dead or Alive” poster.
4B. A male student is wearing a shirt depicting Vladamir Putin on a “Wanted Dead or Alive” poster.
5. You get word that the monthly student newspaper is planning to run a story exposing the common cafeteria practice of serving students food that is past its expiration date. All students receive free copies of this newspaper.
6. A student-produced magazine contains a poem written by a student that uses the F-word. The magazine is published once a year and available to students for $10.00. A parent called and complained after seeing her daughter at home reading this magazine.
7A. A teacher sends a female student (who is openly gay) to the office is wearing a “Gay Pride” t-shirt with a rainbow on it.
7B. A male student is wearing a shirt that says “Homosexuality is a Sin” and has a bible verses
dealing with the topic on the shirt.
8. The yearbook plans to run a page on teen pregnancy. A handful of our students are young ladies who are mothers and have volunteered to be interviewed for the article. The story will also discuss birth control as well as abortions. A parent gets wind of this story and calls you and demands it be removed.
9. A student comes to your office after being sent there by a teacher for wearing a shirt with former President Obama’s picture on it with a racial slur on the back.
10. A student shows up on school picture day with a black t-shirt with the word "Feminist" on the front. The photographer asks you if you really want this student to wear that shirt for the picture.