Students' Free Speech Has Limits

By Amy E. Feldman

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - What are the free speech rights of students to tweet vulgar things about the principal?

Last year, a New Jersey high school student posted a very vulgar tweet about her principal and in a second tweet, invited other students to smoke with her before school. In response, the school banned her from the prom, the senior trip, and the graduation ceremony.

Her parents punished her for smoking, using vulgarity and being disrespectful. I'm kidding. They sued, saying that the district had violated her right to free speech.

This month, the district settled the case, and while they didn't pay her any money, they did pay her legal fees and expunged the episode from her permanent record. Here's why:

The Supreme Court has said that students don't "shed their constitutional rights when they enter the schoolhouse gate." So she has a first amendment right to express her opinion, in this case, made off campus and not during school hours.

That said, a school district can censor a student's free speech regardless of when and where it's made if it "substantially interfere[s] with the requirements of appropriate discipline." But this would not likely have been considered a substantial interference.

So ultimately, it's the school's responsibility to teach that students have the right to their opinion. And if I may say, it's her parents' responsibility to teach her some manners.