PRANKSTER STYMIES COURTS

Principals Need Clear Rule On Student Speech

Joseph Frederick must be reveling in all the fuss his nonsensical
little prank has caused. Standing on the sidewalk across the street
from his high school in Juneau, Alaska, Frederick waited for the
Winter Olympics' Torch Relay to pass by, then raised a 14-foot banner
"Bong Hits 4 Jesus" in view of TV cameras along the route.

The kid was obviously being a smart aleck, purposely mocking the event
and authority in general. We all know kids like that. The principal,
unfortunately, took the bait. She ran across the street and seized the
banner, as Frederick asked, "What about the Bill of Rights and freedom
of speech?" The principal suspended Frederick from school for five
days, saying the banner encouraged marijuana use, and lengthened the
suspension to 10 days after Frederick refused to reveal who helped him
hold the banner.

That action has gone all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. This case
has been defined by excess on all sides, and the justices will have to
sort through it all.

Frederick insists that because he wasn't on school grounds, he wasn't
disrupting any school work.

Ken Starr, of Clinton prosecution fame, argued on behalf of the
principal that the school's educational mission includes drug-free
schools and that Frederick's banner advocated illegal drug use. The
parade was akin to an outdoor school assembly, he said, and school
officials should have wide latitude to promote the "mission of
preventing the schools from being infected with pro-drug messages."

Going further, the deputy solicitor general arguing for the U.S.
government said schools should be able to suppress any speech
perceived to be inconsistent with their educational mission.

That notion goes much too far.

For his part, Frederick wants the suspension expunged from his record,
and he wants the principal to pay damages for violating his
free-speech rights. That's out of line, too.

The justices would do well to give a win to both sides. Read
Frederick's banner as a harmless, off-campus prank. The goal of
drug-free schools need not come at the expense of suppressing and
punishing all student speech making a joke of drug use. For the
schools, the court should state a clear rule that principals and
teachers should not have to pay out of their personal pockets for
good-faith decisions in dealing with students who deliberately try to
be provocative.