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Pyle ex rel. Pyle v. South Hadley School Committee

United States District Court, D. Massachusetts
Aug 26, 1994
861 F. Supp. 157 (D. Mass. 1994)

Summary

upholding a prohibition on T-shirt proclaiming "See Dick drink. See Dick drive. See Dick die. Don't be a Dick." and "Coed Naked Band: Do It To The Rhythm."

Summary of this case from Boroff v. Van Wert City Board of Education

Opinion

Civ. A. No. 93-30102-MAP.

August 26, 1994.

John Reinstein, Civ. Liberties Union of Mass., Boston, MA, William Newman, Civil Liberties Union, Northampton, MA, Sarah Wunsch, Mass. Civil Liberties Union Fdn., Boston, MA, for plaintiffs.

Raymond R. Randall, Ryan, Boudreau, Randall Kirkpatrick, South Hadley, MA, for defendants.


MEMORANDUM


I. INTRODUCTION

This case is a reminder that it is easy to assume a tempest in a teapot is trivial, unless you happen to be in the teapot.

The tumult here arose when two students at South Hadley High School wore T-shirts — one reading "See Dick Drink. See Dick Drive. See Dick Die. Don't be a Dick" and the other reading "Coed Naked Band: Do It To the Rhythm" — that teachers, school administrators and, ultimately, the town's school committee decided were unacceptable school dress.

The students then sued the superintendent and school board, claiming that the school's dress code generally, and its application to the two T-shirts specifically, violated their First Amendment rights. This court denied the students' motion for preliminary injunction, which sought an immediate order barring the school's prohibition of the particular T-shirts. A four-day bench trial followed regarding the shirts and two provisions of the dress code, one addressing vulgarity and the other harassment.

The court's recitation of facts and discussion of the law below is lengthy, but its essence can be quickly summarized.

The First Amendment limits minimally, if at all, the discretion of secondary school officials to restrict so called "vulgar" speech — including speech containing sexual innuendo, however lukewarm by some standards. The sexual witticism at issue in this case is almost identical in tone to the student's remarks reported in Bethel School District No. 403 v. Fraser, 478 U.S. 675, 106 S.Ct. 3159, 92 L.Ed.2d 549 (1986). In that case the Supreme Court affirmed the school's power to curb, and even discipline, the speaker. Similarly here, the school's exercise of its authority to limit the sexual double entendre on these T-shirts, even where there was no immediate prospect of disruption, did not run afoul of the First Amendment.

Plaintiffs argue that, even if school administrators have the hypothetical power to limit "vulgar" speech, this court must itself weigh the slogans on its own scale of offensiveness and conclude that these particular T-shirts simply were not vulgar. The question then becomes, who decides what is "vulgar"? The answer in most cases is easy: assuming general reasonableness, the citizens of the community, through their elected representatives on the school board and the school administrators appointed by them, make the decision. On questions of coarseness or ribaldry in school, federal courts do not decide how far is too far.

This is because people will always differ on the level of crudity required before a school administrator should react. The T-shirts in question here may strike people variously as humorous, innocuous, stupid or indecent. In assessing the acceptability of various forms of vulgar expression in a secondary school, however, the limits are to be debated and decided within the community; the rules may even vary from one school district to another as the diversity of culture dictates. The administrators here acted within reason, and the court's inquiry need go no further. Therefore, the court will deny the motion for injunctive relief directed at the two T-shirts themselves and at that portion of the dress code forbidding clothing that is "obscene, profane, lewd or vulgar."

It is crucial to point out that this case does not involve any attempt to restrict books, educational materials, or classroom discussion, based on its vocabulary or content. The court's analysis in that event would be different. See, e.g., Keefe v. Geanakos, 418 F.2d 359 (1st Cir. 1969) and Right to Read Defense Committee v. School Committee of Chelsea, 454 F. Supp. 703 (D.Mass. 1978).

As regards the second aspect of the dress code — the ban on clothing that "harasses, threatens, intimidates or demeans" certain individuals or groups — the plaintiffs' motion will be allowed. Enforcement of this portion of the code will be enjoined, except in circumstances where the clothing in question also creates a substantial risk of a material and substantial disruption to the daily operations of the school described in the Supreme Court's decision in Tinker v. Des Moines School District, 393 U.S. 503, 509, 89 S.Ct. 733, 738, 21 L.Ed.2d 731 (1969). Any other ruling would permit school officials to circumscribe improperly the expression of opinion on controversial issues, even where that expression contained no vulgarity and offered no threat to the orderly performance of the school's educational mission.

The First Amendment does not permit official repression or homogenization of ideas, even odious ideas, and even when the expression of these ideas may result in hurt feelings or a sense of being harassed. A school committee may not ban speech other than that reflecting the dominant or most comforting ethos. The "harassment" provision at issue here, while it obviously has laudable goals, gives school personnel precisely that excessive authority.

Of course, as this court has emphasized, school officials have the authority to limit expression that "would substantially interfere with the work of the school or impinge upon the rights of other students." Tinker v. Des Moines School Dist., 393 U.S. 503, 509, 89 S.Ct. 733, 738, 21 L.Ed.2d 731 (1969). But, where it is not disruptive or vulgar, a student's personal expression may not be censored on the basis of its content.

II. FACTS

A. The Parties

Plaintiff Jeffrey Pyle ("Jeffrey"), is now an eighteen-year-old freshman at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. In 1993, he was a student at South Hadley High School and participated in the band and the drama club. Jeffrey's father, Christopher Pyle, a professor of constitutional law at Mount Holyoke College, is also a plaintiff, bringing this action on behalf of his minor son Jonathan, a sixteen-year-old sophomore still attending the high school. It is undisputed that both Jeffrey and Jonathan have achieved an excellent record, both academically and with respect to their extracurricular activities. They have been good students and good citizens of their school.

Defendants are: the South Hadley School Committee and its individual members; Charles Kimball, individually and in his capacity as Interim Superintendent of the South Hadley High School; and Paul Raymond, interim principal of the high school.

South Hadley is a town of approximately 16,000 inhabitants, located at the foot of the Holyoke Mountain range in Western Massachusetts. The area is rich in both history and culture. South Hadley has a strong commitment to the education of the town's students and is influenced, in part, by the presence of Mount Holyoke College as well as many of the excellent academic institutions nearby. The first public school in South Hadley was built in 1754. In 1870 the high school held a graduation for its first class — of two students. By 1900 the population of South Hadley had increased to approximately 4,500 and in 1904 the first woman school committee member, Mary Brainard, a retired high school teacher, was elected. In 1907, the high school graduated a "large" class of 16 students. Over the years, South Hadley has continued to grow, and the location of the high school has changed several times due to the demand for more space. Presently, approximately 785 students attend South Hadley High, in the eighth through twelfth grades, ranging in age from twelve to eighteen years old.

B. Findings of Fact

The following facts emerged from the bench trial, which took place from March 28, 1994 to April 1, 1994.

The controversy over T-shirts in South Hadley can be traced back to some time during the 1991 school year. Prior to this time, an informal system was in place at the school. If a student wore an objectionable T-shirt to class, a teacher would ask the student to remove it or turn it inside out. The number of times this occurred in the past was minimal.

Then came the "Button Your Fly" controversy. Charles Kimball, principal of the high school in 1991, sent home a student wearing a T-shirt with this popular Levi-Strauss logo. At that time, the dress guidelines at South Hadley High School were set out in the folder given to each student at the beginning of the school year. A section entitled "Personal Appearance" stated:

Personal appearance should not disrupt the educational process, call individual attention to the individual, violate federal, state, or local health and obscenity laws, or affect the welfare and safety of the students, teachers, or classmates. Students will be asked to change inappropriate attire.

Under this provision, Kimball sent the student home to change his T-shirt. Unfortunately, on his way from school the student fell off his moped and broke his arm.

The next day, approximately 20 to 30 students wore "Button Your Fly" T-shirts to school and staged a peaceful sit-in to protest the banning and the injury to their classmate. Jeffrey, then a sophomore at the high school, participated in this demonstration. Jonathan, a student in the middle school at the time, also wore the "Button Your Fly" T-shirt to his school.

In response to the protest, Principal Kimball eventually decided to allow the students to wear the T-shirts pending a school committee meeting on the subject. As now, the school committee consisted of five members.

At a meeting on May 24, 1991, the school committee decided, by a 3-2 vote, to allow the students to wear the "Button Your Fly" T-shirt. To no one's surprise, the logo's popularity plummeted following this decision, and until the Spring of 1993 the dress code issue lay dormant.

Troubles began to brew again on March 24, 1993, when Jeffrey wore a T-shirt to his gym class bearing the slogan "Coed Naked Band; Do It To The Rhythm" ("Coed Naked Band"). This shirt was a Christmas gift given to Jeffrey by his mother celebrating Jeffrey's involvement in the school band. After viewing the T-shirt, Jeffrey's gym teacher told him that it was unacceptable. Although she allowed Jeffrey to wear the shirt for the rest of her gym class, she warned him not to return to her class wearing the Coed Naked Band T-shirt.

In response, Jeffrey wrote a letter to acting principal Paul Raymond. In his letter, Jeffrey explained that, because he felt his constitutional right to freedom of expression was being violated, he intended to wear the T-shirt again. He noted that he had worn the Coed Naked Band T-shirt on several previous occasions and had not received any complaints. In addition, he had seen both boys and girls wearing "Coed Naked" T-shirts with various tag-lines at South Hadley High and never saw them cause a disruption. He concluded, "I am respectfully informing you that I plan to wear this shirt, and similar shirts, in the future. Of course, if any of my shirts were to cause a genuine disruption, I would change it immediately." Acting principal Raymond did not respond to Jeffrey's letter.

When the next gym class met, Jeffrey wore his Coed Naked Band T-shirt to class again. This time the teacher asked Jeffrey to change his shirt. When Jeffrey refused, he was given three detentions for insubordination and sent to the office. Acting Principal Raymond met with Jeffrey, and they both looked at a publication sponsored by the Massachusetts Department of Education, entitled "Check it Out," for guidance on the issue of dress codes. Raymond, unsure whether Jeffrey's T-shirt was permissible under the dress code then in effect, decided to seek guidance from the members of the school committee and put Jeffrey's detentions on hold until the April 6, 1993 meeting.

In the days prior to April 6, Jeffrey deliberately continued to test the rules by wearing two new T-shirts to gym class. One T-shirt depicted two men in naval uniform kissing each other with a tag line "Read My Lips." The second T-shirt depicted a marijuana leaf and stated "Legalize It." Neither prompted an objection.

At the April 6, 1993 school committee meeting Jeffrey orally presented his views regarding censorship and the boundaries of a student's First Amendment rights. Also speaking at that meeting was Jeffrey's gym teacher, who explained her ground rules of acceptable behavior. Students were not allowed to wear T-shirts that targeted or harassed a person because of race, sex, religion, or sexual orientation. During the past few years, this teacher had used the "Coed Naked" series of shirts as an example of what she considered unacceptable dress in her gym class. See Affidavit of Susan Tyler at ¶ 3.

During the meeting, Jeffrey requested that the school committee formally draft a dress code because, in his opinion, the current guidelines were too vague. The school committee believed that the school's informal policy of requesting a student to change an objectionable T-shirt had proved successful. They were at first reluctant to attempt a more formal dress code.

By the end of the April 6th meeting, however, the school committee agreed not to enforce the three detentions given to Jeffrey and to consider the dress code issue further. On April 7, 1993, Jeffrey sent a letter to the members of the School Committee outlining once more his request that the school committee adopt a new, formal dress code.

On April 20, 1993, the school committee held a second meeting at which it considered proposals to amend the existing guidelines regarding dress. After reviewing a dress code then in use at the Longmeadow High School, the school committee decided to adopt a similar approach, later embodied in a memo dated April 29.

On April 22, 1993, Christopher Pyle, Jeffrey and Jonathan's father, sent School Committee Chairperson Steven Marantz a ten page single-spaced letter, setting forth specific objections to the newly adopted dress code and offering several suggestions to cure what he viewed as its constitutional infirmities. The School Committee did not respond to Professor Pyle's letter.

On April 29, 1993, the students, faculty, staff, and parents of students at South Hadley High School were sent the following notice.

TO: Students, Faculty, Staff and Parents FROM: Paul R. Raymond, Interim Principal Subject: Dress Code at South Hadley High School
On Tuesday, April 20, 1993 and again on Tuesday, April 27, 1993 the South Hadley School Committee voted to amend the current dress code to read as follows:
CURRENTLY IN THE DRESS CODE:
Personal appearance should not disrupt the educational process, call singular attention to the individual, violate federal, state, or local health and obscenity laws, or affect the welfare and safety of the students, teachers, or classmates.
ADDITIONS TO THE DRESS CODE:
Students, therefore, are not to wear clothing that:
1. Has comments or designs that are obscene, lewd or vulgar.
2. Is directed toward or intended to harass, threaten, intimidate, or demean an individual or group of individuals, because of sex, color, race, religion, handicap, national origin, or sexual orientation.
3. Advertises alcoholic beverages, tobacco products, or illegal drugs.
If such clothing is worn to school, students will be required to change or will be sent home to do so.
Clothing expressing political views is allowed as long as the views are not expressed in a lewd, obscene or vulgar manner.
This policy will become effective per the direction of the South Hadley School Committee on Monday, May 3, 1993.

Plaintiffs' Exhibit 10.

On May 3, 1993, the day the code was to take effect, Jeffrey wore a T-shirt to school with the slogan "Coed Naked Civil Liberties: Do It To The Amendments" ("Coed Naked Civil Liberties" T-shirt) to signify his opposition to the new dress code. The same day, Jonathan, a sophomore, wore a T-shirt bearing the slogan: "See Dick Drink. See Dick Drive. See Dick Die. Don't Be A Dick" ("See Dick" T-shirt). Jonathan and Jeffrey wore these T-shirts for about four periods with no incident. Later in the day, Jeffrey and Jonathan were sent down to the administration office where Acting Principal Raymond and Acting Vice-Principal Zajac told them that their T-shirts were unacceptable. They were given the usual three options: First, turn the T-shirt inside out; second, change into another T-shirt, or third, go home and change. Jeffrey and Jonathan decided to go home and did not return to school until the next day.

This T-shirt was a gift to Jeffrey's father Christopher Pyle from his Mount Holyoke students.

Following a letter from plaintiffs' counsel, the school committee took no action regarding the dress code from May 4 to May 11, so that they could meet and discuss counsel's concerns regarding the constitutionality of the amended dress code. On May 5, 1993, on the advice of counsel, the school committee agreed to retract the prohibition on the "Coed Naked Civil Liberties" and "See Dick" T-shirts pending a May 11, 1993 school committee meeting. Jeffrey and Jonathan were notified of this new position and wore these two T-shirts on May 7, 1993, without incident.

On May 11, 1993, the school committee reconvened and discussed the dress code with plaintiffs' counsel. This meeting had several results. First, the school committee reaffirmed the guidelines set forth in the April 29 memorandum. Second, the committee defeated a motion to continue to permit the "See Dick" and "Civil Liberties" T-shirts. These shirts were therefore again off limits. Third, the committee granted the school administration (Kimball, Raymond and Zajac) the authority to interpret and enforce the code.

That same day, May 11th, Jonathan protested the dress code by wearing a home-made T-shirt bearing a picture of a gerbil and the tagline "Coed Naked Gerbils" on the front and "Some People Will Censor Anything" on the back. Jonathan was sent to the office where his T-shirt was reviewed by Kimball, Raymond, and Zajac. Kimball said that while he personally found the shirt to be inappropriate, it did not violate the dress code. Jonathan was then given a pass to return to class.

On May 14, 1993, Jonathan wore a T-shirt that read "Coed Naked Censorship — They Do It In South Hadley." One of his teachers sent Jonathan down to the office to get an evaluation of the T-shirt. Kimball looked at the T-shirt and found that it did not violate the dress code. Once more, Jonathan was given a pass to return to his class. Jonathan wore this T-shirt to school on another day and did not experience any problems. He also wore a T-shirt celebrating the Smith College centennial, and reading "A Century of Women on Top," without incident.

Jonathan and Jeffrey both admit that they selected these T-shirts to protest censorship and to test the capacity of the administration to distinguish prohibited from permitted messages. At least three of the shirts (Coed Naked Censorship, Coed Naked Civil Liberties and Coed Naked Gerbils) were custom-created to test, and lampoon, the borders of the permitted range.

On May 17, 1993, Jeffrey wore the Coed Naked Civil Liberties T-shirt again to school. Jeffrey was sent to the office, where Principal Kimball reviewed the shirt and, this time, found that it did not violate the dress code. Jeffrey returned to class and wore the T-shirt for the rest of the school day. That same day, Jonathan wore the "See Dick" T-shirt again. Vice-principal Zajac told Jonathan that the T-shirt was unacceptable. Unwilling to change, Jonathan left school.

On May 18, 1993, Jeffrey tested the waters again with his "Coed Naked Band" T-shirt. By first period, he was sent down to Kimball's office, where he was told the shirt was not acceptable. Concerned with missing more classes, Jeffrey decided to change into a non-objectionable T-shirt. A short time later, Jeffrey graduated from South Hadley High School.

On May 18, 1993, Kimball sent a memorandum to the faculty at South Hadley High school regarding the dress code. In it, Kimball advised that

[t]he faculty should understand that every shirt or hat or whatever that you personally feel is off color or in bad taste will not automatically be found in violation of our present dress code. The code is designed to prevent lewd, obscene and vulgar statements on clothing and to prevent people from intimidating, demeaning or harassing students and staff on the basis of sex, creed, national origin, etc.

Kimball concluded that if a teacher had any questions regarding the appropriateness of a student's clothing, the student should be sent down to the office for a decision.

In the 1993-94 school year, South Hadley's Dress Code read, in pertinent part:

e. Students are not to wear clothing (including hats) which cause a disruption to the educational process or the orderly operation of the school. This includes clothing that:
1. Has comments, pictures, slogans, or designs that are obscene, profane, lewd or vulgar.
2. Harasses, threatens, intimidates or demeans an individual or group of individuals because of sex, color, race, religion, handicap, national origin or sexual orientation.
3. Advertises alcoholic beverages, tobacco products, or illegal drugs.
If such clothing is worn to school, students will be required to change or cover said clothing or will be sent home to do so. Refusal to change or cover said clothing will result in the students not being allowed to attend class until they have complied with the code. The students should understand that failure to attend class may subject them to a penalty under the existing class attendance and truancy regulations at South Hadley High School and the South Hadley School Department.

Plaintiffs' Exhibit 22.

On this rendition of the code, defendants inadvertently omitted the provision concerning protection for expression of political views. On February 15, 1994, the defendants amended the September 1, 1993 dress code and added one final sentence.

Clothing expressing political views clearly is allowed as long as the views are not expressed in a lewd, obscene, profane or vulgar manner.
See Plaintiff's Exhibit 23. This dress code now remains in effect at South Hadley High School and is, in part, the subject of this lawsuit.

III. DISCUSSION

A. Applicable Supreme Court Decisions Concerning Students' Right to Freedom of Expression

Three important Supreme Court cases define the scope of a student's right to freedom of expression while in secondary school.

First, in 1969 the United States Supreme Court decided Tinker v. Des Moines School Dist., 393 U.S. 503, 89 S.Ct. 733, 21 L.Ed.2d 731 (1969), holding that a student's black armband worn as a protest against the Vietnam War was constitutionally protected speech. In Tinker, the Supreme Court stated that "[i]t can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate." Id. at 506, 89 S.Ct. at 736. While recognizing students' right to express themselves freely, the Court also recognized the need "for affirming the comprehensive authority of the States and of school officials, consistent with fundamental constitutional safeguards, to prescribe and control conduct in the schools." Id. at 507, 89 S.Ct. at 736 (citation omitted).

In Tinker, a handful of students wore black armbands in protest of the United States involvement in Vietnam. Pursuant to the school's policy regarding armbands, school administrators asked the students to take off the armbands while in school. When they refused to comply with this request, the students were sent home and suspended until they returned to school without the armbands. Id. at 504, 89 S.Ct. at 735.

Significantly, the Court reasoned as follows.

The school officials banned and sought to punish petitioners for a silent, passive expression of opinion, unaccompanied by any disorder or disturbance on the part of the petitioners. There is here no evidence whatever of petitioners' interference, actual or nascent, with the schools' work or of collision with the rights of other students to be secure and left alone. Accordingly, this case does not concern speech or action that intrudes upon the work of the school or the rights of other students.
Id. at 508, 89 S.Ct. at 737. The Court concluded that the ban on the armbands could not be sustained, because the school failed to show that the wearing of the armbands materially and substantially interfered with the operation of the school.

Second, in Bethel School Dist. No. 403 v. Fraser, 478 U.S. 675, 106 S.Ct. 3159, 92 L.Ed.2d 549 (1986), the Supreme Court reaffirmed the holding in Tinker and refined the law regarding the right of free speech in secondary school. The facts of Fraser are as follows. Matthew Fraser, a student at Bethel High School, delivered a speech at a high school assembly in support of a candidate for student government. Approximately 600 students attended the assembly. In nominating a fellow student for an elected office, Fraser described his candidate "in terms of an elaborate, graphic, and explicit sexual metaphor." The school disciplined

In addressing the student body, Fraser said the following.

"I know a man who is firm — he's firm in his pants, he's firm in the shirt, his character is firm — but most . . . of all, his belief in you, the students of Bethel, is firm.
"Jeff Kuhlman is a man who takes his point and pounds it in. If necessary, he'll take an issue and nail it to the wall. He doesn't attack things in spurts — he drives hard, pushing and pushing until finally — he succeeds.
"Jeff is a man who will go to the very end — even the climax, for each and every one of you.


Summaries of

Pyle ex rel. Pyle v. South Hadley School Committee

United States District Court, D. Massachusetts
Aug 26, 1994
861 F. Supp. 157 (D. Mass. 1994)

upholding a prohibition on T-shirt proclaiming "See Dick drink. See Dick drive. See Dick die. Don't be a Dick." and "Coed Naked Band: Do It To The Rhythm."

Summary of this case from Boroff v. Van Wert City Board of Education
Case details for

Pyle ex rel. Pyle v. South Hadley School Committee

Case Details

Full title:Jeffrey J. PYLE and Jonathan H. Pyle, By and Through his father and next…

Court:United States District Court, D. Massachusetts

Date published: Aug 26, 1994

Citations

861 F. Supp. 157 (D. Mass. 1994)

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