Student Rights

In the latest ACLU case backing student rights in cyberspace, Thurston County Superior Court Judge Thomas McPhee today ruled that public school officials cannot punish a student for free speech outside of school.

A federal court has ruled that Seattle Schools may use race as one of several tiebreaking factors in assigning students to schools. The ACLU filed amicus briefs supporting the case.

For the second straight year, the first week of school brought the ACLU a plea for help from a student in trouble for refusing to stand for the flag salute.

The Nine Mile Falls School District has decided to stop searching students with drug-sniffing dogs. The decision avoided a planned lawsuit by the ACLU and the Center for Justice.

The Washington Supreme Court found unanimously that requiring students to undergo drug testing without suspicion of wrongdoing violates the state constitution.

A group of parents is challenging the suspicionless testing of Wahkiakum School District students who participate in extracurricular athletic activities.

Students in Bellingham can continue distributing at school the alternative newspaper they produce thanks to help from the ACLU.

A former high school student who was suspended for creating a parody on the Internet is getting damages from the school district that wrongfully punished him.

The U.S. Supreme Court this fall will hear the appeal of a ruling that upheld the Seattle School District’s use of race as factor in assigning students to schools. The ACLU of Washington will file a brief in the case, supporting the district’s policy as a way to prevent racial segregation.

The federal Equal Access Act requires schools to give all noncurriculum-related student clubs – such as Gay-Straight Alliances - equal access to school facilities, regardless of the content of the speech in their meetings.