Student Rights

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.

Jessica Beckett, a senior at North Kitsap High School in Poulsbo, has been selected to receive a Youth Activist Scholarship Award in recognition of her work for civil liberties. The $4,000 college scholarship is one of nine awarded by the American Civil Liberties Union to high school students around the nation.

The Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) has the same free speech rights as other student clubs at Federal Way High School, thanks to action by the ACLU. In March school officials notified the GSA that a student government vote against the club will not be grounds for denying it equal access to school resources.