Student’s Rights and Responsibilities 1

Student’s Rights & Responsibilities: Freedom

EDU 210: Artifact 4

Xavier C. Perry

College of Southern Nevada

Abstract

This paper examines a student’s rights to express themselves through clothing,

jewelry and other visual aids in the school system and the right and responsibility

to control such expression by the school system as it pertains to the safety of the

student body. In this paper, I address four cases closely related to the topic at

hand. It will also investigate decisions made by the educational systems and how

they affect the school environment. The text you will view will additionally

investigate the constitutionality of the law as it provides for the safety of students

while also protecting the rights of the students and educational systems to

establish guidelines that provide for safety and care on educational premises. It is

my hope that this paper and the information provided within will implore students

to be aware of their rights and approach things in a correct manner. It is also that

public officials will recognize there need to keep students safe while also not

disrupting there natural rights.

Student’s Rights and Responsibilities: Freedom

Bill Foster was a high school aged boy whom was suspended from a

northeastern United States school for wearing an earring to school. Foster wore

the earing because he thought it was attractive to young ladies. The procedures

and policies of the school district which he resided had initiated a policy

prohibiting the wearing of gang symbols which included jewelry, earrings,

athletic caps and emblems. The high school had adopted this policy because the

gang activity within the area was predominant in the school system. Although,

Bill Foster was not gang affiliated, he was still suspended from school for wearing

the earring. Foster filed a suit against the school claiming his “freedom of

expression” rights were violated.

In the court case Boroff vs Van Wert City Board of Education (2000), a high

school student wore a t-shirt to school with the shock rocker name Marilyn

Manson on the front, bearing a graphic of a three faced Jesus and the words,

“Hear no truth, Speak no truth, See no truth”, on the front. On the reverse, the

shirt contained the word, “Believe” in big letters with the word “Lie”, highlighted.

The student whom wore the shirt, Nicholas Boroff, was given a few options; to

turn the shirt inside out, to go home and change the shirt and return or simply go

home. The student chose to go home and returned the very next day robed again

in another Marilyn Manson shirt. Boroff was again sent home. After several days

of this same routine, Boroff filed a suit against the school district claiming that his

First Amendment rights were violated. In this case the courts ruled in favor of the

school. They found that they were in fact within their rights in asking Nicholas

Boroff to remove the shirt because it directly disputed the values of schools

educational mission. The shirt was blatantly offensive and outwardly pertained
 Student’s Rights and Responsibilities 4

verbiage that could additionally be disruptive. This is relatable to the Foster case

because with gang activity being so overwhelming in an area that a high school

and district would establish policies prohibiting the wearing of symbols such as an

earring, it clearly was necessary. Even though Foster wasn’t gang affiliated and

wore the earring to appeal to girls, he was as a student aware of the policy and

that it was set in place for his protection and not to violate his rights. Had he been

allowed to wear the earring and a volatile situation arose from it, the school would

have been responsible for not ensuring his safety.

In Montgomery County, a group of 25 students were suspended from school for

knowingly disobeying the school dress code by wearing shirts that displayed the

confederate flag. The school also has a policy that they can’t display the

confederate flag on their vehicles. Students are required to sign a form stating

they won’t display any decals, symbols, signs ect on their vehicle in order to get a

parking permit. The students were asked to change and while some complied,

most refused, even stating, they would continue to wear the shirt over and over

again. It was a part of this county’s dress code that the “confederate” flag was not

to be displayed or worn on individuals as it was deemed to be disruptive to the

school system, creating racial tension. The confederate flag for the African

Americans represented enslavement, not freedom. Many of the student’s whom

wore those shirts claimed they meant no negative intent by it. Just as for Foster

the earing didn’t represent gang affiliation to him, but the school had an

obligation to protect the student body. And just as the students of Monterey

County were aware of the policy and the disruption that violating it could cause.

The fights that could insight from the presence of the shirts. Foster was also aware
 Student’s Rights and Responsibilities 5

of his schools policy regarding the earing and also the huge gang issue in his area

and what could be construed from the wearing of the earring.

Now, I have presented you with some cases wherein the educational system was

found to be correct in their decisions with regards to the student’s dress codes.

Now I will present to you some cases where judges find that the student was

entitled to the means in which they chose to express themselves.

In the case of Doe v Brockton School Community the courts ruled in favor of a

male student who was cross dressing because the school district failed to show

how the student’s actions posed as a disruption to the school environment. The

student was well within his rights. He wasn’t disrupting the learning environment

of anyone else. Bill Foster wasn’t disrupting the learning environment of anyone

else either. Instead he was merely attempting to make a fashion statement and

potentially attract a girl.

Finally, in my last case I will present, a judge finds in favor of a young Muslim

student whom was asked by the Muskogee Public School District to remove her

headscarf (hijab) and was suspended after she refused. The young girl sued the

school district and was backed by the U.S. Department of Justice, The American

Jewish Congress, and the Council on American Islamic Relations in helping to

achieve the finding that she be allowed to wear the headscarf, but also that the

dress code be revised to provide for religious exceptions. The young girl wore the

hijab for religious reasons. Bill Foster wore an undescribed earring to attract girls

and because he liked the earring. So, if in fact the undescribed earring was red

with a silver cross then the same rule would then apply.
 Student’s Rights and Responsibilities 6

Conclusion

It is my conclusion that high school student, Bill Foster’s rights were not

violated. I concluded this for numerous reasons. First, the school initiated a

specific dress code based on an overwhelming amount of gang activity within the

school. Second, the first responsibility is to ensure the safety of the students.

Third, the students and parents are provided with policies and handbooks and

generally asked to sign those types of documents. With that being said, the

parents were also aware that when there child left the home that allowing him to

wear the earring was a safety issue. This makes the parents negligent and forces

the school into a position to be responsible.

References

Underwood, Julie & Webb, L. Dean. (2005).Students’ Rights. Stollenwork, Debra

A. & Rogers, Elisa, School Law For Teachers Concepts and Applications

(pp.124). New Jersey: Pearson

Underwood, Julie & Webb, L. Dean. (2005). Students’ Rights. Stollenwork,

Debra A. & Rogers, Elisa, School Law For Teachers Concepts and Applications

(pp.125). New Jersey: Pearson

WLSL10 (2015). Suspended Christianburg HS students say they will wear flag

again Friday

http://www.wsls.com/news/christiansburg-high-school-students-suspended-for-

wearing-confederate-flag