Freedom Of Expression In School

[banksie312]

every year before hte homecoming football game and the homecoming dance, a "spirit week" ensues

during this week there are different themes for the day and you can choose to dress accordingly to get points and to hopefully win spirit week for the sake of bragging rights

on friday, we all wear our class tshirts which are made and printed by the Student Association

The slogans are always terrible and about 1/4 of my grade doesnt get the tshirts

we had a great idea of making our own that say "We pwn n00bz" and on the back say "Junior '07"

which would mimick our class tshirts

we collected money from 70 people and sent our shirts to get ordered (from the shop teacher in the school who happens to have an OUTSIDE business)

teachers got word and they talked to my friend who was in charge of it all

they told him to cancel the orders and that if they didnt everyone who wore one wasnt allowed into the pep rally during our friday school day

he said "well were doing it anyway"

then the school board got word and "spoke" with the teacher that was printing the shirts for us, magically he couldnt do it anymore

hes not even sure if he can refund our money

so now, the day before friday, they say that anyone wearing the tshirt AT ALL will be suspended and my friend will be suspended for the sum of everyone who wears a tshirt

ive looked in out student parent handbook, researched the district file codes, and supreme court cases and have found that they in fact CANNOT suspend us for wearing these tshirts in school, and if they dont want us to wear them at the pep rally they must first warn us ON THE OCCASION OF THE OFFENSE

if they request i take off my shirt in the pep rally, i will have a tshirt underneath stating my rights to wear the shirt i had on and that the administration force me to remove it

they cant do anything because the other shirt i made will comply strictly with every rule

if you dont know what we pwn n00bz means, it is in no way outwardly offensive or insinuating anything

anyone agree with my position?

[EMDII]

You are represented by the School Board, ergo a self-governing body. Not fed.gov. Since the 1st Amendment ONLY guarantees that you canot be 'pwned' by fed.gov, it does NOT apply in this situation.

All that schmuck about federal dollars affecting your school is tripe. So, as the Eagles say: Get over it.

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Congress had no part in your little mellee. Get your school board involved IF you must, but this ain't no 1st Amendment problem. They may not suspend you, but they can require you to behave IAW their rules on school property. The Board has been empowered by the local vote to act as the representative of the parents and government.

Edited November 4, 2005 by EMDII

[banksie312]

You are represented by the School Board, ergo a self-governing body. Not fed.gov. Since the 1st Amendment ONLY guarantees that you canot be 'pwned' by fed.gov, it does NOT apply in this situation.

All that schmuck about federal dollars affecting your school is tripe. So, as the Eagles say: Get over it.

Congress had no part in your little mellee. Get your school board involved IF you must, but this ain't no 1st Amendment problem. They may not suspend you, but they can require you to behave IAW their rules on school property. The Board has been empowered by the local vote to act as the representative of the parents and government.

actually in the supreme court ruling of Tink v. Des Moines School Dist. the ruling was that if the expression is passive, non offensive, and doesnt obstruct the learning process, we have full freedom

i didnt think that there was a federal case for this at first, but someone mentioned black arm bands in the 60s supporting the men who came back from the war

in fact, our handbook QUOTES Justice Fortas in his speach for the opinion of the court

they are only representatives as parents in cases of danger and of searches, no parent has the right ot take away the freedom of expression, and it is a freedom of expression, not speach...that i want to make clear

Edited November 4, 2005 by banksie312

[Gregg]

just poking do it - administrators are big pussies once you make them realize that you didn't actually do anything wrong

[Zappo]

Everyone go shirtless with it painted on. :)

[WhiteT5]

just poking do it - administrators are big pussies once you make them realize that you didn't actually do anything wrong

So true. Throughout high school, I was always told "Don't do it, or else...". Of course, I always did it and nothing ever happened. I mean, what can they do? Kick you out of school for something that they don't even know the meaning of?

[mrmandmman]

Is it really worth the trouble? pick your battles... this seems like a useless one

[javadoc]

Wear the shirts. The worst that will happen is that the administrators will be ignorant enough to take action against you, and get on the news. Then the school and school district will get bad press and will end up with egg on their faces.

If you're not displaying profanity, or some racially or hate-driven slogan, I should think that you can wear whatever you want in a public school, as far as t-shirts go. That's just my opinion.. so don't call me from jail. ;)

[banksie312]

well i wore my we pwn n00bz tshirt today

i got sent to the office and they asked me what it meant and al that

and they explained why i couldnt wear it and they said it was because it is insinuating that "we own freshman" which is slavery

and they said that since it could be taken that way that it is disruptive to the school

then the teacher noticed my tshirt underneath that said

"if you can read this, the administration revoked my right to free expression"

and on the back had supreme court cases THAT DO APPLY and are still the precendent (spelling?)

anyway he met with 2 officers, both assistant principles, the principle and a member of the board of ed after reading the white tshirt

then he came in and told me to wear this shirt and threw it at me and closed the door

i took off my we pwn noobz shirt and put on the shirt they gave me and put my homemade rights tshirt in my backpack when he came in, took BOTH tshirts and put them in a drawer, i told him he couldnt take my white tshirt and told me to get out of his office

then i asked when i would get it back and they said after school

i went after school and they refused to give them back

i will be meeting with the principle on monday to discuss better ways to inform students of WHY they are saying that and about the white tshirt incident

i also at one point asked what my punishment would be if i wore it reguardless and they walked out of the room without telling me

when they told anyone else that came into the office what their options were, and it was wear the tshirt and lose homecoming or surrender and nothing happens

so it was pretty I'm dumb but i will be talking to the principle (and im not doing this just to do it, i believe stuff like this shouldnt happen in the future)

you might get a kick out of this....the admin is PISSED because they just found out what the homemade senior shirts last year said

"Seniors '05, were gunna shock the world"

and on the back it showed a hand in the "shocker" position

[Guest DougK]

Is it really worth the trouble? pick your battles... this seems like a useless one

Dont you get it? Everyone in HS thinks the world revolves around them.

About 4 years later they realize nobody gives a stuff. :lol:

[maiku]

get the parents involved

teachers are afraid when parents get involved

and not your typical conservative parents

get the cool ones

Edited November 8, 2005 by anitanium

[HPTDoh]

you might get a kick out of this....the admin is PISSED because they just found out what the homemade senior shirts last year said

"Seniors '05, were gunna shock the world"

and on the back it showed a hand in the "shocker" position

I got a kick out of it! Glad you decided to wear your shirt.. seems like a stupid thing for the school to make a fuss over. Wheres the MS page explaination page of 1337 speak??

[javadoc]

I got a kick out of it! Glad you decided to wear your shirt.. seems like a stupid thing for the school to make a fuss over. Wheres the MS page explaination page of 1337 speak??

This one? http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/c...en/kidtalk.mspx

[Gioseppe]

hahaha, seniors did a nice job with their shirts.

but exactly that, there is nothing that they can do to you.

tinker vs des moine is the perfect example. you aren't disrupting the learning environment, you are just wearing a shirt that you made.

get some parents involved, take it to the press, it could even see the supreme court. it's a violation of free speech.

they thought that "owning" freshman was slavery. way to take it literally jerk admins.

he was probably the school bully, now he just wants to take it out on the kids. what a monkeyass.

[Greenchunks]

Dont you get it? Everyone in HS thinks the world revolves around them.

About 4 years later they realize nobody gives a stuff.

That's besdies the point Doug. I think thats awesome that he did that. I commend him on the fact that he

a.) had the balls to do what he wanted

b.) had the knowledge to look up court cases and prepare a defense

i.)and put it all on a shirt

ii.) and wear that shirt

c.) is basically clogging up the principals time over a petty issue

Another thing you realize is that while high school may not be important, its things like this that'll you'll remember about high school, and not some class, or some girl, or some car show you won etc. Also, there really isnt too much to do in high school sometimes, and stuff like this keeps you occupied. I commend young high schooler, good job.