Smith v. Springfield School District

Case Type:

Exigence:

For Springfield High School's class about the internet, students were required to draft and publish online a web site of interest to the high school community. The grade for the project was to be based on the skills in web authorship demonstrated by the page. Each page was to include the name of the student, the title of the course and identify the page as from Springfield High School with a link to the school's official web page. The page was to be placed on the school's web server as a permanent resource for the community.

Jane Smith, a student in the course, designed and published a web site of resources for gay and lesbian teens. The site contained information about and links to local support and activist groups. It contained the results of a survey Jane had done on sexual orientation among high school students. It also contained Jane's own opinions on a variety of issues related to lesbian and gay rights, including a call for homosexual teens at Springfield High to come "out." There was no sexually explicit material on the page, although some sexually explicit material could be found from links on webpages to which Jane's page had linked.

Jane received an "A" for her web site.

After receiving complaints from the parents of other students, Principal Skinner ordered Jane's web site removed from the school server. (The web pages of other class members are still online). Jane sued, alleging that the school district had violated her First Amendment rights.

Audience:

Possible
Constraints:

Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier, Shiffrin & Choper 448

The oral argument in Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier, online at Oyez, Oyez, Oyez courtesy of Northwestern's Professor Jerry Goldman.

Decision:

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