Students line up First Amendment protections for gun violence protests

When students from Parkland, Florida protested gun laws after 17 were killed in a school shooting at their high school, they were applauded as were, in many instances, other protesting students across the country some of whom even walked out of classes. But similar demonstrations by students of color against gun violence have not received much attention or support. An alliance between black teen-agers and their white counterparts may be in the works. (CityLab, Maarch 1, 2018, by Mimi Kirk)

School districts are not always supportive of their students as demonstrated by the Needville, Texas and Waukesha, Wisconsin school districts who warned students of consequences if they walked out of class. (CNN, February 21 2018, by David Williams)

The American Civil Liberties Union said school districts can discipline students for cutting class even for the purpose of exercising their free speech rights. But the administrations cannot give additional punishments for the content of the protest. Students can protest lawfully at school by wearing slogans or expressing their views at lunch time. (ACLU, February 22, 2018, by Vera Eidelman)

The Student Press Law Center mobilized a number of services to support students who wish to protest including settling up a hotline, providing a number of media attorneys to advise students, and establishing a national rapid-response legal hotline team to assist in case of problems during the protests planned for March 24, the “March for Our Lives” rally, in Washington, D.C. that this week was denied a permit owing to a scheduling conflict. (SPLC, February 26, 2018, press release)