Another controversy at Paso Robles high school related to flags. This one blows up on social media, with a lot of people weighing in on an incident which occurred at the high school last week.
Wednesday, November tenth, the day before Veterans Day, some students demonstrated in support of veterans on the south end of the school parking lot, next to Niblick road.
They waved flags which were mostly patriotic. US flags, I saw one US Marine Corps flag. But for a short time, someone waved a flag which was derogatory about the president. It read F Biden, although it spelled out the F-word. Another flag said Trump 2020. Those two flags set of a firestorm of discussion on social media.
A teacher said, “There would be no complaints if they’d been outside of the fences. But they were on campus and it’s just intolerable.”
School board president Chris Arend says that free speech does not extend to profanity. In 1969, the US supreme court ruled in Tinker vs Des Moines, that students enjoy their constitutional rights to speech, press, and privacy that all other citizens enjoy. Those rights do not end at the school gates.
More recently, the US supreme court ruled in the case of Brandy Levi. She did not make the cut as a freshman cheeleader for her school in Pennsilvania. She sounded off on social media. On Snap Chat she said, “F school, F cheer, F softball, F everything.” End of profane quote.
The school suspended Brandy from cheerleading for a year, and that started a legal battle. Two years later, the US supreme court rendered a decision. Earlier this year, the supreme court ruling against the high school.
So, there are two supreme court rulings that board president Chris Arend can study related to students right to free speech, even profane free speech.
The discussion will likely continue and may reach the school board so that the trustees can weigh in on it.
