Student Rights

The Nine Mile Falls School District has decided to stop searching students with drug-sniffing dogs. The decision avoided a planned lawsuit by the ACLU and the Center for Justice.

The Washington Supreme Court found unanimously that requiring students to undergo drug testing without suspicion of wrongdoing violates the state constitution.

A group of parents is challenging the suspicionless testing of Wahkiakum School District students who participate in extracurricular athletic activities.

Students in Bellingham can continue distributing at school the alternative newspaper they produce thanks to help from the ACLU.

A former high school student who was suspended for creating a parody on the Internet is getting damages from the school district that wrongfully punished him.

The U.S. Supreme Court this fall will hear the appeal of a ruling that upheld the Seattle School District’s use of race as factor in assigning students to schools. The ACLU of Washington will file a brief in the case, supporting the district’s policy as a way to prevent racial segregation.

The federal Equal Access Act requires schools to give all noncurriculum-related student clubs – such as Gay-Straight Alliances - equal access to school facilities, regardless of the content of the speech in their meetings.

In a precedent-setting case, the Washington Court of Appeals has temporarily put a halt to Wahkiakum School District’s program of suspicionless urine testing for student athletes.

All student-initiated clubs have the right to speak on campus and circulate leaflets or underground newspapers at school. However, the ACLU believes that no student-initiated club has a legal right to force the school to give official endorsement and money to the group if the school does not wish to sponsor it.

Reasonable rules against harassment on the basis of sexual orientation do not violate the free speech rights of students and teachers. Here are some general guidelines for striking a balance between protecting free speech and protecting students against harassment.