Contact form
Close

Contact Us

In order to help you more quickly, please fill out the quick form and submit.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
1360 West 9th Street | Suite 200 | Cleveland, Ohio 44113
Free Consultation
216-348-1000

First Amendment Rights

First Amendment Rights in School

Protecting freedom of speech for students across Ohio

Public school teachers and administrators can limit freedom of speech in schools, but only under specific circumstances. If you feel your First Amendment rights, or those of your children, have been violated in the state of Ohio, contact Dan Margolis, a Cleveland lawyer experienced with issues of free speech for students.

Do students have freedom of speech in schools?

Several U.S. Supreme Court decisions definitively extend the rights of free speech to the public school environment. But freedom of speech in schools can be curtailed for certain reasons. If a public school teacher, administrator or school board takes steps to curtail free speech, they must:

  • Base the decision on valid facts
  • Only limit speech based on concerns that it would seriously disrupt education or violate the rights of others, which includes prohibiting profanity and threats

Communication must meet certain criteria to be considered threatening:

  • The threat must be clear and convincing
  • School authorities must reasonably believe the communication expresses a threat that will be acted on
  • The threat must engender fear in other students

The Internet

Speech on the Internet carries the same legal protections as newspapers and magazines, so constitutional freedoms extend to items written or posted by students on Facebook or other Internet sites. Schools may be able to see your Facebook profile, but they may have little power to regulate what you say there.

However, if the student used school equipment or a school website to post his or her thoughts or expressions, the school may have more leeway to restrict that communication.

Also, libel and slander laws apply to students as much as they do to adults. A student who posts lies about teachers or school officials online may be liable.

School publications

Schools have almost complete control to censure or edit speech published in a sanctioned school newspaper. But magazines, leaflets and newspapers produced independently by students enjoy protections similar to that of normal speech. Such a publication may usually be distributed so long as it:

  • Does not disrupt education or school activities
  • Is distributed within the parameters established by the school for the distribution of such periodicals

A decade of experience fighting for the First Amendment rights of students

First Amendment rights cases in schools can prove to be tricky matters. Dan Margolis is one of the most experienced and respected First Amendment attorneys in Ohio. He can provide a free initial consultation at any time to students or parents facing such issue. His office is conveniently located just a few blocks from the Cuyahoga County Justice Center in Cleveland. Contact Margolis & Atzberger, LLC online or at 216-348-1000 today.