Q: I have a freshman and a senior student at the public High School. For approx. the last two years the district has required them to wear ID Tags around their necks at all times while on campus. While I realize that the district is doing this for safety issues I do not agree with the process in which it is enforced. Recently, our senior son went to the office to obtain a “change of schedule form” that is required by the school to change a class. During his Art class he removed his ID tag from his neck because he did not want it to rub or smear his art project. He then went to the office to obtain the form and inadvertently forgot to put it back on.
When he arrived at the office the secretary immediately chastised him for not having his tag even though he tried to explain the circumstances. She immediately advised him that he would have to serve a detention that week for not having the tag on. Needless to say that my son was very, very upset about and called me.(Obviously the matter could have been handled better but that is the overall behavior of the staff at this school). I feel that the secretary abused her authority but also made matters worse because this was “finals” week and our son did not need this added pressure.
I made the decision for my son and told him that he did not have to attend the detention and that I would call the Principal to discuss this. Our sons are good students and have never been in any type of trouble. We received a letter in the mail advising our son that he would now have to serve a Saturday detention because he did not appear at the original detention. I’ve spoken to a district administrator and she feels that he should take responsibility for not wearing the ID tag. Both my husband and I work in Law Enforcement and we are good parents. We have ALWAYS taught our sons to be respectful, and accountable for their actions. We have been supportive of this district in so many ways but I feel this ID tag issue has crossed the line and is in violation of their rights.
I guess my questions to you are; can they FORCE a student to wear these tags and/or can they impose mandatory punishment for not having them on? His Saturday detention is not until 1/26/08 and at this point we’re not sure if we are going to make him attend. The consequences could be suspension or failure to allow him to graduate, it’s at the Principal’s discretion. Of course we do not want this to happen but we are also not going to back down under these circumstances. The administrator told me “If I let your son off the hook then I would have to let others off the hook” and that would not be fair. Having knowledge that others HAVE been let off the hook how could it then be unfair? But to bring this issue to light would be like getting stopped for speeding and then telling the officer, “why didn\t you stop the other car they were speeding also?” My family does want to be accountable but this is not working.
A: The First Amendment does impose certain limits on regulation of student speech by schools. One of the landmark cases involving school speech involved students who were suspended for wearing black armbands to school to protest the Vietnam War. The Supreme Court said that the school could not constitutionally punish the students for wearing the armbands: “Clearly, the prohibition of expression of one particular opinion, at least without evidence that it is necessary to avoid material and substantial interference with schoolwork or discipline, is not constitutionally permissible.” Tinker v. Des Moines School District, 393 U.S. 503 (1969).
It is not clear, however, that a safety rule requiring all students to wear ID tags implicates any expressive rights of students. To the extent that a student might argue that he has an expressive rightnot to wear an ID tag, the school might nevertheless be able to require him to wear one in furtherance of the school’s safety efforts, without violating the constitution.
As for inconsistent enforcement, the school district may have a mechanism for objecting to the enforcement of a rule against a student if it is generally not enforced against other students, but determining what that mechanism would be is beyond the scope of what we can provide through this service.