LF: Student with banned Trump shirt to get apology, $25,000 from school district

Title: Student with banned Trump shirt to get apology, $25,000 from school district
Source: Oregon Live
URL Source: https://www.oregonlive.com/washingt ... nt_with_banned_trump_shir.html
Published: Jul 24, 2018
Author: Maxine Bernstein
Post Date: 2018-07-26 11:36:35 by Deckard
Keywords: None
Views: 690
Comments: 1

A federal judge in May granted a temporary restraining order, barring Hillsboro's Liberty High School from preventing senior Addison Barnes from wearing his pro-border wall T-shirt to school for the rest of this school year. Barnes graduated in June. (Court document)

The principal of Liberty High School in Hillsboro has agreed to apologize to a student who was told to go home or cover up his "Donald J. Trump Border Wall Construction Co.'' shirt in January.

Addison Barnes, an 18-year-old senior, was suspended for wearing the shirt backing Trump's immigration and Homeland Security policies. He then sued the high school, the principal and the Hillsboro School District, arguing they violated his First Amendment rights.

In late May, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order, essentially barring the school for the remainder of the school year from enforcing its earlier decision prohibiting Barnes from wearing the shirt.

Hillsboro's Liberty High School must allow student to wear pro-Trump T-shirt, judge rules

U.S. District Judge Michael W. Mosman found there was little justification in the court record for the Hillsboro School District to justify its censorship.

On Tuesday, Barnes' lawyers announced they reached a settlement with the district: Principal Greg Timmons will issue a letter of apology and the district will pay $25,000 for Barnes' attorney fees.

"I brought this case to stand up for myself and other students who might be afraid to express their right-of-center views,'' Barnes said in a statement. "Everyone knows that if a student wears an anti-Trump shirt to school, the teachers won't think twice about it. But when I wore a pro-Trump shirt, I got suspended. That's not right.''

Barnes' lawyers said the message on the shirt wasn't the point of the case. High school students have the right to express their political views, they said.

"We brought the case to police the thought police,'' attorney Brad Benbrook said.

School district officials said in a statement that courts have ruled differently in similar cases, leaving students' First Amendment rights in school a "gray area." They said they decided to settle the T-shirt case "given the cost and disruption of litigation."

The principal's letter was brief, apologized for Barnes' initial suspension and wished him well in the future, they said.

"As an educational institution," the statement said, "Hillsboro School District and each of our schools supports, encourages, and celebrates free speech and reasoned debate. We also have a responsibility to ensure that each of our students feels welcome and safe in our schools so they can effectively learn. This was an instance where we were challenged to do both simultaneously and the decision landed on the side of ensuring student safety. Moving forward, we will continue to use professional discretion to meet both objectives and will actively seek ways to turn sensitive situations into learning opportunities."

School officials had defended their actions in court, saying the shirt would contribute to a "hostile learning environment'' and would make students feel insecure in school, noting that about 33 percent of the high school's students are of Hispanic descent. They also said the school had been the site of recent student walkouts and sit-ins to protest Trump's immigration policies.

The district described increased racial tensions arising from racially charged language around immigration, school officials said.

But U.S. District Judge Michael W. Mosman found the school district couldn't justify its censorship. The judge said he balanced constitutionally protected speech with the orderly running of a school.

The school district is entitled to be concerned about the response of other students to the T-shirt, the judge said. But the "thin" court record offered little support for the district's argument that the shirt could "substantially disrupt'' the school, he said.

-- Maxine Bernstein

The school has the constitutional right to ban T-shirts containing a message that is disruptive to the learning environment.

However, if the school was allowing anti-Trump T-shirts and banning pro-Trump T-shirts … well, that's a different story.