What Are Your Rights at School?

You’re learning about the Bill of Rights in school, and the more you hear, the better you feel. The first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution protect all sorts of freedoms. And, over the past 200-plus years, lawmakers have safeguarded even more rights.

But on the way to your next class, you get sent to the office. Why? Your shirt violates the school’s dress code.

Wait a minute, you think. What about my rights? Can my school really tell me what I can wear?

The answer, it turns out, isn’t as clear as you might hope. You do have some rights at school, but in this situation and many others, the school’s rules usually stand. Federal law requires that all kids get an education, and public schools are entrusted to make that happen. So school officials have a lot of power to limit or ban behaviors, activities, and even clothing that might interfere with learning.

“The state has an important interest in children and teens’ education and in training them to be responsible citizens and participants in our community,” explains Catherine J. Ross, a constitutional law expert at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

That doesn’t mean you don’t have any rights at school. But you might have fewer than you realized. Can you identify which rights you do have as a student and which you don’t—and why? Take this quiz to find out.

YES. You and your classmates may have written the articles, but the newspaper is considered your school’s speech because the school sponsors it. That gives your principal the right to review its contents and even censor articles, the Supreme Court has said.

This standard dates back to a 1988 case, Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier. Cathy Kuhlmeier and other students sued after their principal removed two articles from the school paper. The Court sided with the school. It said schools can put limits on what students say in school newspapers, yearbooks, graduation speeches, and other such school-centered activities—as long as the limits are “reasonably related to legitimate [educational] concerns.” Long story short, hand that newspaper over.

NO. Schools are allowed to limit the types of materials and websites students can access and interact with using school-issued equipment. This goes back to the school’s role of teaching students while also keeping them safe. Online materials “can be censored for educational suitability,” explains Ross. “Schools can protect students from exposure to things they’re not ready for.” However, the limits must be fairly applied. For example, schools can block all political party websites but can’t give access to one party’s website while blocking another’s.

YES. Students are required by law to attend school, so skipping class is a punishable offense—even if it’s to support a cause that’s important to you. “It’s clearly a disruption of the school’s function if everybody walks out of class,” says Ross. However, you can’t be punished for the message or political nature of your walkout. That’s your free speech protection kicking in. And if you hold your protest outside school hours—and off school grounds—your First Amendment right to peaceably assemble should have you covered.

NO. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, schools can’t deny students with disabilities equal access to any part of their education. That applies to academic courses, extracurricular activities, school technology, health services, and—you guessed it—field trips. So if the field trip is considered part of your education, the school must provide a way for you to get there and back too.

YES (within limits). School officials can’t stop you from wearing something because they don’t agree with what it says—as long as your message doesn’t interfere with learning. “Almost all shirts with political statements are protected,” says Ross, “even if they’re offensive to some or most people in the school.”

You can thank Mary Beth and John Tinker for that. In 1965, the siblings and a friend wore black armbands to school to protest the Vietnam War. School officials suspended them for not removing the armbands, so their families sued. In Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, the Supreme Court agreed that the school had violated the students’ First Amendment right to free speech. “In wearing armbands,” said the ruling, “[the students] were not disruptive, and did not impinge upon the rights of others.” 

However, schools can set rules about clothing. They can’t ban political speech, Ross says, “but they can adopt a school-uniform policy that says only plain white shirts.” In that case, you could be punished for wearing a printed shirt but not for its message.