Can the government close a designated public forum?
Search for: Are government offices public forums?
What are designated public forums?
Search for: What is Forum restrictions on speech?
Are streets a public forum?
Streets, parks, and sidewalks are considered open to public discourse by tradition and are designated as traditional public forums. The government creates a designated public forum when it intentionally opens a nontraditional forum for public discourse.
Is a student newspaper a public forum?
A: A student publication is a public forum for student expression when school officials have given student editors the authority to make their own content decisions. This can be accomplished through an official policy or by simply allowing a publication to operate without interference from school officials.
Are there any limitations to what a high school newspaper can publish?
School authorities can only prohibit publication of stories in school newspapers if they are obscene, libelous, slanderous, or likely to incite others to commit illegal or disruptive acts.
Can school officials control student expression in school-sponsored forms of communication such as the school newspaper or yearbook?
Teachers and other school authorities are allowed to censor or change what students write or say in school-sponsored publications (like an official school newspaper or yearbook), school plays, or other activities that involve the expression of ideas and are essentially part of the curriculum.
Does the Constitution apply to schools?
While education may not be a “fundamental right” under the Constitution, the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment requires that when a state establishes a public school system (as in Texas), no child living in that state may be denied equal access to schooling.
Do minors have freedom of speech at home?
Court has long recognized that minors enjoy some degree of First Amendment protection. Students do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate” (Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District 1969).
Can teachers look at students social media?
If your school does not have a monitoring program, you do not have the right to know what information teachers and officials find through their own searching on social media. Remember, anything you post publicly can be seen by anybody, including police officers, teachers, officials, and other students.
Do teachers have freedom of speech on social media?
However, if you use social media to comment about students, school or other work-related matters, or you use it to engage in what might be considered conduct impairing your functioning as a teacher, the First Amendment may not protect you.