For our abbreviated version, navigate to the local law page

From the Handbook:

"Exemption from Specific Instructional Activities District policy provides parents the right to have their child excused from specific instruction which conflicts with their religious beliefs, upon receipt by the school district of a written request from the parents. Parents have the right to have their child excluded from any research studies or surveys conducted by entities other than the school district unless prior written consent has been obtained. Parents have the right to have their child excluded from instruction regarding the prevention of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV/acquired 18 immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and other life threatening and communicable diseases when the instruction conflicts with the parent's religious beliefs or principles, upon receipt by the school district of a written request for exemption. According to Act 88, students have the right to decline to participate in an education project involving harmful or destructive use of animals (i.e., dissection, vivisection, incubation, capture, etc.)."

OUR ANALYSIS:

The school district provides reasonable protections on first amendment rights in this section, an appreciable effort to maintain a level of respect for all religions and opinions. Though this paragraph protects mainly a Parent's rights and are mostly mandated by law, we found that these policies are HELPFUL TO FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS.

From the Handbook:

"Student-initiated clubs are initiated, directed and led by students. These clubs are devoted to subject matter not directly related to the school's curriculum or programs. They are subject to the supervision of the high school, but do not operate under the auspices of an endorsed activity of the high school. Students may obtain guidelines and application forms for student-initiated clubs from the Activities Director."

OUR ANALYSIS:

Students at Mt. Lebanon High School are mostly free to create clubs as they please. As a result of the diverse student body, clubs exist for the topics of religion, religious athletes, politics, athletics, TV, movies, video games, and more. Though we have not heard of any clubs being denied, we can assume reasonably that because of the school's "sponsor" policy, club formation could be defeated quickly. Students must find a faculty member to "sponsor" their club — attending the meetings as the adult leader. From discussions with students and our own observations, we have discovered that this policy hurts the student's rights to speech and assembly, as many teachers are unwilling to sponsor a controversial topic. We believe that students should be able to establish any club, as long as it is not graphic, vulgar, etc, yet the trouble with finding a sponsor could prove difficult. We will thus grade these policies in two ways:

1.) The policy of student-initiated receives a: EXTREMELY BENEFICIAL TO STUDENT FREE SPEECH. These policies are critical at any school, offer students a marketplace of ideas to share their viewpoints, and prepare students for similar environments in college.

2.)The sponsor policy receives a: SOMEWHAT HARMFUL TO STUDENT FREE SPEECH. While teachers and staff are often supportive of new clubs, we have seen many teachers, especially in the humanities department, for example, turn down sponsorship opportunities for political clubs. In a way, this practice is a de facto way of eliminating controversial clubs that could not be filtered out by the administration themselves. We propose, then, that this policy should be turned into a "supervising" policy, and teachers should be affirmed that they, in no way, share the viewpoints of the club and are merely supervising to ensure proper decorum is observed.

From the Handbook:

"Executive Council is comprised of the four class councils - one for each of the freshman, sophomore, junior and senior classes. Each class council is comprised of a faculty sponsor and any interested students from that particular grade. The student body elects eight (8) students each spring to serve as Student Body officers. The Freshmen, Sophomore and Junior Class Councils elect a president, vice president, secretary and treasurer in September from the membership of their respective class council. The Executive Council for each class meets weekly before school to plan activities for the class. Any student can participate in Executive Council at any time during the year."

OUR ANALYSIS:

The ability to elect student representatives allows students to maintain a small portion of power and influence within the school. From Thomas's experience as Student Body Co-President, we found that these officers are mostly free to express their viewpoints, have no trouble scheduling meetings with administrators, and feel that their concerns are considered. We give these policies, therefore, a HELPFUL TO STUDENT SPEECH designation, as the officers can express the views of any student to the administration and the officers played a role in student free speech movements, such as the Student's for Change protests.

From the Handbook:

"Fund-raising According to the School Board Policy, students may engage in fundraising activities on behalf of their approved student organizations only after the need for funds has been determined and the principal has approved the request. The Student Activities Center maintains a master calendar, and all fundraising activities must be approved by Student Council and added to the calendar. Students may not engage in fundraising activities during school hours."

OUR ANALYSIS:

We found this policy a bit disappointing, though we believe it is not widely followed. We believe that students should have the ability to fundraise for any cause they wish, especially during school hours. These opportunities do not cause severe disruption on the school day, as only students involved in the fundraising would be affected and only students who believe in the cause and wish to donate would participate in the fundraising. We also found the school hours policy to hinder student free speech rights. Citizens United ruled that money does constitute speech within organizations, and these rights cannot be limited. The student council, furthermore, has raised money for hurricane disaster relief and other causes throughout the school day with no push-back from the administration. Dance tickets, musical tickets, and athletic tickets are sold during the day, by administration, which are, in a way, fundraising. We found this policy: DANGEROUS TO FREE SPEECH, as it limits any one group's rights to fund their organization if not deemed approved by administration. Furthermore, these policies create, yet again, more "blanket, umbrella" clauses that will really only be used by administration to punish students should they wish to do so.

From the Handbook:

Journalism:

"Three publications offer students many opportunities for experience in writing, editing, photography and layout. The Devil's Advocate is the school newspaper that is published several times throughout the year. To participate in the Devil’s Advocate, students must be enrolled in the Journalism Production class (Journalism 1 is a prerequisite). Journalism Production is a credited, scheduled course. Lebanon Log is the yearbook published in the spring of each year. There is no prerequisite for the Lebanon Log. PULSE, the literary magazine that is published annually, includes student writings, photography and art work. Students are encouraged to contribute to all of these publications and to participate in their development, publication and distribution. PULSE requires a time commitment outside of the school day."

OUR ANALYSIS:

We find that the Mt. Lebanon High School's commitment to these different publications is commendable, though the administration still maintains broad authority to censor and eliminate stories ahead of time. This privilege comes from Hazelwood, which ruled that schools were able to censor their school papers because of a compelling interest and due to the fact that the schools fund the programs. Some states have "anti-Hazelwood" laws, but PA is not among these states. According to our interview with Mr. McFeeley and an informal conversation with Mrs. Begor, the journalism teacher, Principal McFeeley does not censor the Devil's Advocate as much as he did early on in his career, though both Begor and McFeeley attributed this change partially to their familiarity with each other's preferences. Students also are unable to publish anonymous stories, or as Mrs. Begor called it, "Bad Journalism." Anonymous quotes are sometimes permitted. The paper is an open forum, which allows outside students to submit opinion pieces: certainly a strong support for free speech. We found this policy "MODERATELY DANGEROUS TO SPEECH ON CAMPUS," as though students are mostly free to publish their beliefs and stories, the Big Brother of high school administration could always crack down when desired.

From the Handbook:

"Students have the right to express themselves unless such expression materially and substantially interferes with the educational process, threatens immediate harm to the welfare of the school or community, encourages unlawful activity or interferes with another individual's rights. Students have the responsibility to obey laws governing libel and obscenity and to be aware of the full meaning of their expression. Students have the responsibility to be aware of the feelings and opinions of others and to give others a fair opportunity to express their views. Students wishing to post signs or announcements in the building must first have the written or stamped approval of the building principal. Signs must be no larger than 8.5 x 11 inches and may only be posted on the Student News Bulletin Boards. The following are prohibited: 1. Signage deemed to be in poor taste (profanity, obscenity, insult, double meanings, etc.); 2. signs promoting any religion, theology or specific moral code; 3. signs advertising outside fund-raising events; 4. signs soliciting members for a specific religion or any part of such improvements of its program; or 5. Signs promoting profit-making events of agencies."

OUR ANALYSIS:

This section of the handbook is mostly symbolic, as we expected Mt. Lebanon to limit posted materials to school clubs and pre-approved materials. Though this practice does not aid student free speech, students always have the option of handing out pamphlets or leaflets, a protected form of speech. So long as these papers are not disruptive or threatening, students could even pass out the pamphlets anonymously. But, as Principal McFeeley warns, the students observed passing out the documents will be held responsible, regardless of anonymous authorship. Unfortunately, we find that the ban against promoting morals, religion, or fundraising events disappointing, as we believe that all students should benefit from a marketplace of diverse ideas, as long as the postings are not disruptive to the educational process.

From the Interview:

In our interview, we discussed the ability for students to be punished for actions with speech. According to Principal McFeeley, all of our texts, photos, social media, etc on school property or network constitutes as speech and can be held against you. Furthermore, and somewhat surprisingly, these rules apply on the travel to and from school. If walking home or driving home from school, you may want to be extra careful regarding your posts or actions: the school district can punish you for these "commuting" actions. As for the rest of your day, the school really cannot do much. The broad rules and regulations allow from umbrella rules, like the "no photos taken in school" rule, to be used only in disciplinary concerns. The content of your photo may not break the rules, but if the administration wishes to punish you, they can do so simply for taking the picture. These types of rules are unfortunate, but not unexpected, in the controlled educational environment.