Citing recent incidents of violence at schools and colleges, a federal appeals court has ruled that a high school student merited no First Amendment protection for an essay in which a character dreamed about killing her mathematics teacher.
The ruling by a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, in Atlanta, involved Rachel Boim, who was a student at Roswell High School in the 88,000-student Fulton County, Ga., district in fall 2003 when she got into trouble for a story titled “Dream,” which was in a personal notebook that a teacher discovered.
“I lothe [sic] him with every bone in my body,” the narrative’s character says of her math teacher. “I stand up and pull the gun from my pocket. BANG the force blows him back and everyone in the class sit [sic] there in shock.”
Ms. Boim told administrators the work was just “creative fiction,” according to court papers. She was suspended for 10 days and recommended for expulsion, although the school board upheld only the suspension.
Ms. Boim and her parents sued the district and administrators, alleging that the discipline violated her First Amendment right of free speech.
[Relying on the “Bong Hits 4 Jesus” case: Morse v. Frederick] A federal district judge in Atlanta ruled against the Boims, and in a July 31 ruling, the three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit court unanimously backed the lower court.
The appeals court said that in light of a climate in which at least 10 school shootings occurred across the country in the eight years preceding Ms. Boim’s essay, school authorities did not violate the student’s rights.
“We can only imagine what would have happened if the school officials, after learning of Rachel’s writing, did nothing about it and the next day Rachel did in fact come to school with a gun and shoot and kill her math teacher,” the court’s opinion said. “In our view, it is imperative that school officials have the discretion and authority to deal with incidents like the one they faced in this case.”
“That same rationale applies equally, if not more strongly, to speech reasonably construed as a threat of school violence,” the 11th Circuit court said in Boim v. Fulton County School District.
More on Bong Hits 4 Jesus from Kentucky School News and Commentary and this "Ruling in ‘Bong Hits’ Case Seen as Leaving Protection For Students’ Free Speech,"
This from Education Week (subscription).
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