News & Analysis as of

Free Speech First Amendment School Districts

Franczek P.C.

Federal Appellate Court Finds that School Board President Violated First Amendment in Restricting Followers on Social Media

Franczek P.C. on

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which governs federal districts in the West/Northwest, recently held that a California school board member violated the First Amendment when blocking users’ ability to access...more

Snell & Wilmer

Ninth Circuit Holds School Board Trustee Liable for Blocking Public Comments on Her Social Media Account

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Recently, the Ninth Circuit had the opportunity to apply the U.S. Supreme Court’s test laid out in Lindke v. Freed (March 2024) to determine whether a public official’s use of social media is state action subject to First...more

Rumberger | Kirk

Court Finds School Board Erred in Punishing Teacher for Political Activity on Social Media

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Florida’s Fifth District Court of Appeal (“Fifth DCA”) recently determined the Duval County School Board erred when it disciplined a teacher for politically-charged social media posts made in the run-up to the 2020...more

Tucker Arensberg, P.C.

District Court Allows First Amendment and Due Process Claims to Proceed in Flynn v. Big Spring School District

Tucker Arensberg, P.C. on

Flynn v. Big Spring Sch. Dist., No. 1:22-CV-00961, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 168913, at *2 (M.D. Pa. Sep. 19, 2024) (District Court permits Plaintiffs who were regular attendants at school board meetings to move forward with...more

Shipman & Goodwin LLP

See You In Court - February 2025

Shipman & Goodwin LLP on

Social media has made it much easier to disseminate hurtful criticisms about teachers, principals, superintendents and even board of education members, and the good people of Nutmeg are no exception....more

Kohrman Jackson & Krantz LLP

Ohio Senate Bill 206 Seeks to Expand School Discipline for Conduct on Social Media

Ohio Senate Bill 206, (SB 206) introduced in 2024, calls for students who post threatening content on social media to be punished with expulsion from school for up to 180 days. The bill defines the proposed prohibited conduct...more

Pullman & Comley - School Law

Are Your District's Social Media Accounts a Ticking Legal Time Bomb?

While district-controlled Facebook, Instagram and Twitter/“X” accounts can certainly be a great tool for engaging stakeholders – particularly Gen X and Millennial parents – it is important for board members and administrators...more

Roetzel & Andress

Is the After School Satan Club Coming to Your School District?

Roetzel & Andress on

The decision of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in Satanic Temple, Inc. v. Saucon Valley School District, ___ F.Supp.3d ___, 2023 WL 3182934, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 75001 (May 1, 2023) is a...more

Fisher Phillips

Calm Waters Run Deep: 10 Action Items to Help Your School Face the Rising Tide of Political Discourse

Fisher Phillips on

Yes, we are still talking about this. Despite facing what feels like a rising tide of political discourse in our communities for years, we continue to hear concerns about how schools can balance fostering academic freedom,...more

Franczek P.C.

School District’s Discipline of Students for Off-Campus Speech Affirmed by Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals

Franczek P.C. on

A recent Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision held that school officials did not violate students’ First Amendment rights when disciplining them for off-campus social media posts that amounted to severe harassment...more

Miller Nash LLP

Off Campus, but Still Within Reach: Ninth Circuit Affirms a Public High School’s Right to Discipline Students for Online...

Miller Nash LLP on

As anticipated, the Ninth Circuit has waded back into the choppy waters of student online and off-campus speech following the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 2021 ruling in Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L and found that a...more

Tucker Arensberg, P.C.

School District’s Discipline for Off-Campus Social Media Post Violated Student’s First Amendment Free Speech Rights

Tucker Arensberg, P.C. on

In re Appeal of G.S., 269 A.3d 718, 722 (Pa. Commw. Ct. 2022), appeal denied, 61 MAL 2022, 2022 WL 2447538 (Pa. July 6, 2022) (The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court determined that the expulsion of a student for a social media...more

Tucker Arensberg, P.C.

High School Football Coach’s Mid-Field, Post-Game Prayer Ruled Protected Speech

Tucker Arensberg, P.C. on

​​​​​​​Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, 597 U.S. __ (2022) (The United States Supreme Court concludes that a coach praying at mid-field following a high school football game was engaged in private religious expression...more

Best Best & Krieger LLP

SCOTUS Term Includes Back-to-School Guidance on Balancing Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses

Employers Should Reevaluate Policies on Religious Expression at Work in Light of Kennedy v. Bremerton School District and Carson v. Makin - With the commencement of school, public youth programs and 2022-23 budget cycles,...more

Spilman Thomas & Battle, PLLC

The Academic Advisor - Education Law Insights, Issue 2, 2022

Welcome to our second edition of The Academic Advisor - our e-newsletter focused on education law insights. We hope you enjoyed our first issue and found it helpful. Our aim is to support the work that you do by bringing...more

Polsinelli

Supreme Court Issues Opinion on Religious Expression for Public Employees

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The Supreme Court addressed the intersection of the First Amendment’s Establishment and Free Speech clauses as they relate to a public employee’s personal religious expression when done in the public eye. In a 6-to-3...more

Ballard Spahr LLP

Supreme Court Alters First Amendment Test In Decision Allowing High School Coach to Pray After Games

Ballard Spahr LLP on

Joseph Kennedy coached football at Bremerton High School, a public school in Washington State. After football games, Kennedy led prayers at the 50-yard line among players, coaches, fans, and, sometimes, politicians. The...more

Franczek P.C.

Supreme Court rules in favor of football coach who prayed on field after games

Franczek P.C. on

On Monday June 27, the Supreme Court issued their ruling in the case Kennedy v. Bremerton School District. (We previously reported on this case.) In a 6-3 decision penned by Justice Neil Gorsuch, the conservative majority...more

Fisher Phillips

SCOTUS Sides with Public School Football Coach Who was Disciplined for Praying After Games

Fisher Phillips on

The SCOTUS recently ruled in favor of a public high school football coach who lost his job after praying in front of students at the 50-yard line following the school’s football games. The Court held that the coach did not...more

Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

Supreme Court Decides Kennedy v. Bremerton School District

On June 27, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, No. 21-418, holding that a football coach’s quiet prayers of thanks after three football games were protected under the Free Exercise and...more

Franczek P.C.

Supreme Court to decide case of football coach placed on leave for post-game prayers

Franczek P.C. on

On April 25, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, which we previously reported on. As you may recall, the case involves a high school football coach, Joseph Kennedy, who was...more

Miller Nash LLP

Supreme Court Decision about Community College Raises Issues for Public Body Boards

Miller Nash LLP on

Escalated tension, dissention, disagreement have been the new normal for school district and community college boards throughout the country. Censures and reprimands, once a little used arrow in the quiver of boards, have...more

Tucker Arensberg, P.C.

“Civility” Policy for Public Participation at School Board Meetings Found Unconstitutionally Vague

Marshall v. Amuso, No. 21-CV-4336 (E.D.Pa. November 17, 2021). (Federal court concludes that school board policy governing public participation at school board meetings was unconstitutionally vague and an infringement on free...more

Tucker Arensberg, P.C.

Ban of Disruptive Parent from School Events not an Unconstitutional Speech Infringement

McNett v. Jefferson-Morgan Sch. Dist., 2:21-CV-01064-RJC, 2021 WL 5505849, at *1 (W.D. Pa. Nov. 23, 2021) (A parent’s challenge to being banned from school events for disruptive behavior found not to have violated his...more

Franczek P.C.

Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Case of Former Football Coach Who Prayed on the Field after School District Told Him No

Franczek P.C. on

In 2019, we reported on the case of Kennedy v. Bremerton School District involving a football coach at Bremerton High School in Washington state who was placed on administrative leave by his public school district for praying...more

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