What Rights To Protest Do Public High Schoolers Have?

Last week saw a spike in reports of protests on Atlanta area high school campuses. Students are participating in a sit-in in Fulton County schools, DeKalb athletes are threatening to take a knee at football games and Gwinnett students are skipping class to join prayer circles – all protesting racial inequality and incidents of police violence.

So far, school officials appear to be treading carefully. DeKalb and Fulton County’s school systems say they support students’ political expression as long as it’s not disruptive.

Frank LoMonte is the executive director of the Student Press Law Center, an organization that advocates for student First Amendment rights. He said a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case over high school students protesting the Vietnam War, Tinker v. Des Moines, protects political speech in public schools.