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These rulings provide valuable guidance on what kinds of circumstances can lead a school administrator to reasonably predict that a display of the Confederate flag could cause substantial disruption or materially interfere with school activities. These courts found that school districts can restrict the display of the Confederate flag if school authorities have facts that allow them to reasonably forecast that the flag will substantially disrupt or materially interfere with school activities. While no federal court in New York has addressed the specific issue of whether and how the Tinker standard applies to the display of the Confederate flag at school, six federal circuit courts with jurisdiction in other states have. In the decision, the High Court held that school districts are generally prohibited from restricting student speech, unless the speech would materially and substantially disrupt classwork and discipline in the school district. Des Moines Independent Community School Dist. Supreme Court in its famous decision in 1968's Tinker v. School districts may also censor any school-sponsored student speech, as long as the censorship is reasonably related to legitimate pedagogical concerns.įor all other student speech, however, courts will apply the standard first articulated by the U.S. For example, school districts have wide discretion to prohibit student speech that is vulgar, lewd, indecent or plainly offensive. While students do not shed their First Amendment rights at the schoolhouse gate, school officials can lawfully restrict the ability of students to express themselves in some instances. The answers to these questions - as well as similar questions about expressions of anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant or anti-gay sentiments in school - depend on the circumstances and the history of relevant incidents in the school district. How should school administrators respond when a student displays the Confederate flag at school? What are a school district's obligations to students who want to display the flag as well as others who object to or feel threatened by its display? Is the district on safe legal ground if it prevents displays of the flag or punishes students who do so? After a shooting left nine black churchgoers dead in South Carolina in 2016, state officials stopped flying the Confederate flag at the state Capitol. The appropriateness of allowing the flag to be flown in official spaces has been debated in both the North and the South. Among whites with a college degree, 51 percent said it was a symbol of pride, and 41 percent said it represented racism. In a 2015 poll by CNN, 33 percent of Americans said they considered the flag to be a symbol of racism, while 57 percent said it represented Southern pride. These displays often trigger complaints from other students and community members who consider the Confederate flag to be a symbol of racial oppression. Some students have worn T-shirts emblazoned with the Confederate "Southern Cross," and some have hung large Confederate flags from their vehicles in school parking lots. Recently, in some school districts across the state, students have chosen to display Confederate flags on school grounds. By the New York State Association of School Attorneys