STUDENTS LOSE SHIRTS OFF THEIR BACKS FOR INITIATED MEASURE 4

RAPID CITY -- Two Stevens High School seniors who wore T-shirts to
school advocating the passage of Initiated Measure 4, the medical
marijuana ballot issue, say their rights to political free speech
were violated when the school principal confiscated the shirts, which
were decorated with the image of a marijuana leaf.

David Valenzuela, 17, and Chris Fuentes, 18, were told by a Stevens
security guard to remove the shirts as they entered their
first-period class Oct. 20. Principal Katie Bray confiscated the
shirts a short time later.

Rapid City superintendent of schools Peter Wharton said Thursday that
the incident was a violation of school policy, not political rights.

School policy forbids clothing that displays images of alcohol, drugs
or tobacco products on school grounds. That policy is clearly
communicated to all students, and it is not affected by what issues
may or may not be on the ballot in an election year, Wharton said.

"Unequivocally, no. It had nothing to do with political speech," he said.

Students are allowed to wear political T-shirts and other
campaign-related items for candidates and issues, as long as they are
appropriate, as determined by school administrators, Wharton said.
This fall, numerous Stevens students have worn T-shirts with an image
of a human fetus and the message "Save a Life, Vote Yes on Referred Law 6."

"We had been seeing all these abortion shirts at school, and we
thought, OK, I guess we can get political," Valenzuela said of his
decision to wear the shirt to school.

Valenzuela's green, tie-dyed shirt features a white, stylized image
of a marijuana leaf, along with the hand-lettered message, "Vote Yes
on Initiated Measure 4."

The wording is allowed, Wharton said, but the image is not. Any
student is welcome to advocate for the passage of a law legalizing
medical marijuana, as long as they don't use drug insignia in the
process. "Advocate to your heart's content, but don't use a marijuana
leaf to do it. It's against school policy."

"We were told that because the marijuana leaf was drug-related, we
weren't allowed to wear it," Valenzuela said. "I think it's very
unfair. We're trying to get our viewpoint out and tell people what it
(Initiated Measure 4) is, and we can't. We're just trying to spread Measure 4."

Valenzuela, who is not old enough to vote, argues that the picture of
marijuana should be protected as political speech. He was campaigning
for a ballot issue, not promoting the use of an illegal drug, he said.

"That's absurd," Wharton said. "I'm not even going to dignify that
argument with a response." A ballot initiative does not change the
enforcement or the interpretation of a school dress-code regulation, he said.

Bray, who returned the shirts at the end of the school day,
threatened the students with suspension from school if they wore the
shirts to class again, Valenzuela said.

"We were afraid of being expelled," he said.

"Then, I would have gotten involved," said Christine Horan,
Valenzuela's mother, who supported her son's decision to wear the
shirt but made him wear another shirt underneath it, just in case.

"I see it as an issue of free speech. If students are allowed to wear
clothing promoting one ballot issue, then all ballot issues should be
allowed on shirts," Horan said.

Valenzuela and Fuentes say they will take Wharton up on his
invitation to continue their medical marijuana T-shirt campaign, sans
image, in the days leading up to Tuesday's election.