speech

Avery Doninger was disqualified by officials at Lewis
Mills High School ("LMHS"), in Burlington, Connecticut,
from running for senior class secretary after posting on her
weblog a "vulgar and misleading message about the supposed
cancellation" of a school event called "Jamfest".
Doninger and her mother sued to force LMHS to allow her
to run for secretary, which was denied by a U.S. district
court (See School Law Notes, November 21, 2007). They
appealed the decision, but the Second Circuit Court of

The Indiana Supreme Court has reversed a trial court's
decision that a middle school student was a "delinquent
child" for posting statements about her former principal on
the internet website myspace.com, A.B. v Indiana, Doc No.
67501-0709-JV-373 (Ind, May 13, 2008). The middle
school student, A.B., posted critical statements regarding her
former principal, Shawn Gobert, after transferring to another
school. The trial court ruled that A.B. was a delinquent
child because her statements, if made by an adult, would

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled that
a student's First Amendment speech rights were not violated
when a Michigan elementary school principal denied the
student's request to sell candy canes containing a religious
message. Curry v School Dist of the City of Saginaw, 2008
US App LEXIS 881 (January 16, 2008), affirming 452 F
Supp 2d 723 (ED Mich, 2006).
The issue, as articulated by the Sixth Circuit, was
"whether an elementary school student has a First Amendment
right to promote an unsolicited religious message