ABSTRACT
Chapter 5 addresses the First Amendment rights of American school-aged youth. B.L., a 14-year-old, posted an obscenity-laced rant on her Snapchat account concerning, among other things, school and cheerleading as well as another snapchat implying there was inequity in the selection process for the school varsity cheer squad. She did not mention the name of her school or name any individual. The two snapchats at issue were sent while she was off-campus. The posts came to the attention of the cheer coaches at her school, and B.L. was suspended from the cheerleading programme for a year. The parents’ request to forgo the discipline was denied. The American Civil Liberties Union took up the case. The case raises the central issue of the scope of school authority over student speech especially if it occurs on social media used off the school’s campus but affecting in some respect and to some extent on campus school functioning. The question arises as to what lessons are implicitly taught schoolchildren by the State about the meaning of the democratic rule of law if and when student’s lawful speech is constrained under school authority also in the children’s private sphere beyond the school grounds.
