freedom of speech in schools

My son is suspended from school for making an announcement on his schools public address system. he said the following as the schools students were already leaving in protest to a no heat condition in the school. "The seeds of rebellion have been sown. Get up out of your seats and come outside. rebel leave the school"he is charged with insubordination because he made the announcement without permission. also has been charged with violating the schools rules for disrupting instruction. However he had nothing to do with the protest that was happenng before he made the statement. and there is no rule in the schools student handbook that says anything about the use of the public address system. and the statement is not inflamitory. It does not make references to violence or advocate any illegal behavior. It is our position that he was within his first amendment rights to make the statement. The schools student handbook says that he has the right to be heard. In the handbook it says he is guilty of a disturbance that disrupts instruction. but that happened before the announcment was made. and guilty of carelessness in failure to follow school rules that do not exist relative to PA announcments. what do you think?

Check this site out...

http://www.freedomforum.org/first/

and/or hire an attorney.

charlie

A Court would probably not reach the First Amendment issue here.

The legal issue is that your son misappropriated the public address system. You state that the school handbook says nothing about the PA system. Does that mean you think your son did nothing wrong by utilizing the PA without permission? Does the school handbook say anything about setting the building on fire? If it does not, does that mean students are free to committ arson? The issue is your son's misuse of someone else's property.