Today's blog post is my second about free speech rights for students in school.  My first post addressed what rights the First Amendment guarantees to all citizens and how they may be limited.  Today, I'll move and discuss precisely what limits school officials can place on students in public schools.  (Remember that private schools that do not receive federal funds have different standards!)

With the wave of activism among American’s youth, I find that I’m getting calls from students, and their parents, about what free speech rights students have at school, and outside of school.  In the past, I've been involved in research and litigation involving the free speech.  During law school, I working as a research assistant on the issues of free speech and religion.  The first case that I argued at the West Virginia Supreme Court addressed the free speech right of the student body president to intervene when security officers began arresting students at a football game.  Since then, the laws have changed a little, but the fundamental meaning of the first amendment remains solid.  The government is limited by the First Amendment in when and how it may infringe upon any citizen's right to speak freely.