Emmett v. Kent School District Number 415:
Background facts:
The plaintiff's name is Nick Emmett, he was an 18 year old student at Kent Lake High School who was the co-captain of the basketball team with a 3.95 grade point average. He created a website that was a parody of the schools site. When the school officials accessed the site he was suspended for 5 days. They suspended based on a school policy prohibiting harassment intimidation, and disruption to the educational process. The website was labeled "Unofficial Kent lake High School Home Page" it contained a message board, pictures of him and his friends, along with a fake obituary. The website was for entertainment purposes only. The previous year he and his friends had to write fake obituaries for a creative writing class, and he decided to post them on the website during his own free time after school. Then he posted a pole every week giving options for people to vote on for who would "die" next. He created the fake obituaries with the permission of all the students who he used on the website. He took it down after a local news station called it a "hit list". Judge Coughenour issued a temporary restraining order until the case was heard because there was not enough evidence to prove that it was intended as threatening or as a hit list.
Constitutional Question Raised:
Is the Students Freedom of Speech being violated?
Is the Student violating his right of Free Speech?
Was the Tinker Standard applied? How?
Yes, it is defining students rights to symbolic speech. Therefore, still today this method is used by schools stating that students have the right to free speech as long as it doesn't disrupt class or cause a distraction. In this case, the school felt that the website was a distraction so they decided to try to challenge it and prove the student was abusing his right.
Courts Ruling:
The court ruled in favor of the student because there was not enough evidence to prove the website was intended to threaten anyone and did not meet the standards laid out in preceding in students free speech cases. In the end, the school district agreed to pay him $1 and to pay attorneys fees plus remove the students suspension from school records.
The plaintiff's name is Nick Emmett, he was an 18 year old student at Kent Lake High School who was the co-captain of the basketball team with a 3.95 grade point average. He created a website that was a parody of the schools site. When the school officials accessed the site he was suspended for 5 days. They suspended based on a school policy prohibiting harassment intimidation, and disruption to the educational process. The website was labeled "Unofficial Kent lake High School Home Page" it contained a message board, pictures of him and his friends, along with a fake obituary. The website was for entertainment purposes only. The previous year he and his friends had to write fake obituaries for a creative writing class, and he decided to post them on the website during his own free time after school. Then he posted a pole every week giving options for people to vote on for who would "die" next. He created the fake obituaries with the permission of all the students who he used on the website. He took it down after a local news station called it a "hit list". Judge Coughenour issued a temporary restraining order until the case was heard because there was not enough evidence to prove that it was intended as threatening or as a hit list.
Constitutional Question Raised:
Is the Students Freedom of Speech being violated?
Is the Student violating his right of Free Speech?
Was the Tinker Standard applied? How?
Yes, it is defining students rights to symbolic speech. Therefore, still today this method is used by schools stating that students have the right to free speech as long as it doesn't disrupt class or cause a distraction. In this case, the school felt that the website was a distraction so they decided to try to challenge it and prove the student was abusing his right.
Courts Ruling:
The court ruled in favor of the student because there was not enough evidence to prove the website was intended to threaten anyone and did not meet the standards laid out in preceding in students free speech cases. In the end, the school district agreed to pay him $1 and to pay attorneys fees plus remove the students suspension from school records.