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Franczek P.C.

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

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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

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

Kohrman Jackson & Krantz LLP on

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

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

Miller Nash LLP

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

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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

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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

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

Miller Nash LLP

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

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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.

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

Tucker Arensberg, P.C. on

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

Jaburg Wilk

The First Amendment Protects Only Some Arizona Students

Jaburg Wilk on

Many students are generally familiar with the First Amendment of the Constitution, but they often overlook that it only confers the right “to petition the Government for a redress of such grievances.” As a result, only...more

Tucker Arensberg, P.C.

The Authority to Punish Lewd Speech is Limited Once a Student Exits School Grounds

Tucker Arensberg, P.C. on

Mahanoy Area Sch. Dist. v. B. L. by and through Levy, 141 S. Ct. 2038 (2021). The United States Supreme Court holds that while schools can sometimes regulate student speech that takes place off-campus, the school district...more

Tucker Arensberg, P.C.

School District Effort to Prohibit Students' Political Attire Enjoined

Tucker Arensberg, P.C. on

Morgan v. Mifflin County School District, Case No. 1:2–CV-01930 (M.D. Pa. 2020). The United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania issued a restraining order enjoining a school district policy...more

Franczek P.C.

Supreme Court Justices Criticize School’s Discipline of Football Coach for Prayer During Game

Franczek P.C. on

The Supreme Court recently declined to hear a case involving a public school district that fired its football coach for kneeling and praying on the football field after games. ...more

Tucker Arensberg, P.C.

No Retaliation Claim For IT Employee Fired After Criticizing School District

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Wolgast v. Tawas Area Sch. Dist. Bd. of Educ., 16-2240 (6th Cir. 05/25/17): The Court dismissed the retaliation claim of an IT employee who was terminated following comments criticizing his employer, a public school district....more

Fisher Phillips

#NeverAgain? How Schools Should Respond To Student Protests

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After the February 14 tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, students began to organize like rarely before to protest gun violence in schools. Protests such as school walk-outs and “die-ins”...more

Best Best & Krieger LLP

Ninth Circuit Says Schools May Discipline Students Whose Off-Campus Speech Threaten Classmates

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Ruling Strengthens Ability of School Districts to Suspend and Expel Students to Protect Students and Staff - Recognizing the increasing difficulties school administrators face in evaluating potential threats of...more

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