Jury Gives School Administrators Right To Ban Some Student Writings

A jury in St. Louis has rejected claims that the principal of Union Middle School violated a student’s right to free speech when he suspended that student over a story she wrote in which students and teachers are murdered. The girl was represented by the American Civil Liberties Union which contended the story was fiction and should be protected by the First Amendment. The ACLU attorney went on to say the verdict was part of a “post-Columbine overreaction.” An attorney for the Union School District says the verdict shows school adminisrators are entitled to discretion in deciding what might be a threat to the school environment.