Conclusion

Conclusion:

Assessing Student Rights



The Courts’ Views of the Rights of Students
 * 1) Students do not have a First Amendment right to engage in expression that is defamatory, obscene, lewd, or inflammatory or that promotes illegal activity in public schools.
 * 2) School boards can ban commercial solicitation on school premises, but they also have the authority to contract with companies to advertise in public schools unless there is a state prohibition.
 * 3) Student expression that represents the school is subject to restrictions; school authorities have broad discretion to censor such expression, provided the decisions are based on pedagogical concerns and do not entail viewpoint discrimination.
 * 4) Student-initiated expression of ideological views that merely occurs at school (in contrast to representing the school) cannot be curtailed unless a material interference with or substantial disruption of the educational process can reasonably be forecast from the expression.
 * 5) School authorities cannot bar controversial or critical content from student literature that is not school sponsored even through it is distributed at school; policies requiring prior administrative review of such material must specify the procedures for review and types of materials that are prohibited
 * 6) School authorities cannot punish students for the content of materials that are published and distributed off school grounds, including material posted from home on the Internet, unless such distribution substantially interferes with the operation of the school.
 * 7) Most courts have justified school districts’ anti-harassment policies that prohibit uncivil and disrespectful expression as necessary to promote legitimate school objectives, even though similar policies could not be imposed outside school settings.
 * 8) Anti-harassment provisions cannot be vague or overly broad in restricting protected expression
 * 9) Any regulation imposing time, place, and manner restrictions on student expression must be specific, publicized to students and parents, and applied without discrimination
 * 10) Under the Equal Access Act (EAA), if a federally assisted secondary school establishes a limited open forum for student-initiated clubs to meet during noninstructional time, the access policy must be content neutral; however, public schools are not required to create such a forum for noncurriculum student groups to meet.
 * 11) Student and community groups not covered by the EAA have First Amendment expressive association and private speech protection against viewpoint discrimination in terms of public school access.
 * 12) School authorities can restrict student hairstyles and attire that are vulgar, jeopardize health and safety, or threaten to disrupt the educational process; any restrictions must be justified for educational reasons.
 * 13) Restrictive student dress codes and uniforms can be imposed in public schools if justified by legitimate educational objectives, such as reducing violence and improving achievement, and are not designed to suppress expression.
 * 14) Students do not have an inherent right to participate in extracurricular activities
 * 15) Nonprofit, private associations that regulate interscholastic sports and other competitive activities among private and public schools within states are considered state actors and subject to constitutional restrictions on their actions
 * 16) School authorities possess considerable latitude in attaching reasonable conditions to extracurricular participation (e.g., skill criteria, attendance and training regulations, residency rules, academic standards, age restrictions, and length of eligibility requirements).
 * 17) Restrictions can be imposed on student participation in extracurricular activities based on legitimate health and safety considerations and student athletes can be subjected to drug testing.
 * 18) Whether public schools can charge fees for extracurricular participation depends upon judicial interpretations of a state’s constitutional and statutory provisions.