Copy of Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier

Main Arguments

Prosecution:

-The articles got into families' personal business without their consent

-The school chooses its limit on student speech

-Amendment 1: Freedom of expression

-The school paper was a "public forum"

Defense:

Decision

5 votes for Hazelwood School District - 3 votes against

Because the 1st Amendment does not state what students should or should not say at school

The votes upheld the rights of the students

Dissent: Keeping the school's "cookie-cutter" image was not a good enough reason to delete the articles from the school newspaper

Works Cited

Reasoning

This was brought to court because teachers believed the articles were too inappropriate for students

• "HAZELWOOD SCHOOL DISTRICT v. KUHLMEIER." Hazelwood

School District v. Kuhlmeier. Oyez Inc., n.d. Web. 25 Sept. 2013.

• "Hazelwood School Dist. v. Kuhlmeier." Hazelwood School

Dist. v. Kuhlmeier. Legal Information Institute, 13 Oct. 1987.

Web. 25 Sept. 2013.

• "Facts and Case Summary: Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier." USCOURTSGOV

RSS. United States Courts, n.d. Web. 26 Sept. 2013.

• "TEACHERS." Scholastic Teachers. Scholastic, n.d. Web. 26 Sept.

2013.

• Uhlig, Mark. "FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION; From Hazelwood to High

Court." The New York Times. The New York Times, 13 Sept. 1987. Web. 26 Sept. 2013.

• "Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier Podcast." USCOURTSGOV RSS. United

States Courts, n.d. Web. 26 Sept. 2013.

• "First Amendment Schools: The Five Freedoms - Court Case." First

Amendment Schools: The Five Freedoms - Court Case. First Amendment Center, n.d. Web. 27 Sept. 2013.

• "Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier | Casebriefs." Casebriefs. Casebriefs.com, n.d. Web. 27 Sept. 2013.

In the divorce article, specific names were included in the text and the principal did not think it was right

The student should have gotten consent from the parent before publishing the article

Amanda Smitherman

9-27-13

Block 3

The Facts

The teacher believed that articles written about sexual activity and teen pregnancy was too inappropriate for the younger students

The articles written by Cathy Kuhlmeier included stories about pregnant students in the school and the impact of divorce on students

Although Cathy did not include any names in her article, the teacher in charge did not submit it to the newspaper because the students could have been identified some other way.

Issue

Two articles in the Hazelwood East High School newspaper, The Spectrum, were found to be too inappropriate, so they were not published with the rest of the newspaper

Should school officials censor students' speech and their publications in order to protect the younger students?

The Principal - Dr. Robert E. Reynolds, and Cathy Kuhlmeier were involved

What should the school policy say in order to censor what students say at school?

Which value is more important, students' right to the First Amendment or Hazelwood East High keeping its "cookie-cutter" image?

Did the school officials violate the students' rights in the First Amendment by not publishing two articles?

Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier (1988)