Last week, a federal appeals court upheld the actions of a California school administrator, namely, his making students either turn their T-shirts inside out or leave school on Cinco de Mayo. The shirts in question depicted an American flag, raising controversy over a perceived violation of the students’ First Amendment rights.

The panel of judges state in their opinion that the rights of students to express themselves should not be restricted lightly, but must give way when the school has a good reason for censorship. In the case of Live Oak High School, where the controversy started, there was a history of gang-related and racial violence, including an incident that took place the previous Cinco de Mayo between Caucasian and Hispanic students displaying flags of the United States and Mexico, respectively.

This decision, though not made lightly, is still taking the wrong approach to solving this problem. Protecting students is high on the list of any school’s responsibilities, but so should be protecting their rights to express themselves freely under the First Amendment.

The students claiming to have had their rights violated named Assistant Principal Miguel Rodriguez as one of the defendants in their civil rights suit. Rodriguez was the administrator in question who told the young men that they would be unable to wear the American flag shirts, as he had been informed by other students of potential altercations. The school certainly responded to the information it had available to it in a manner they felt was safest and most reasonable. However, the school needs to be thinking of deeper plans to curb violence instead of choosing to ask students to forgo their rights.

Violence seems to be a major issue for the school in question, as those who elected to go home rather than turn their shirts inside out, later received threatening text messages and phone calls. This even prompted the young men to stay home from school for safety concerns May 7, two days after the incident.

Schools are specifically given leeway to prohibit certain forms of speech if they would “materially and substantially disrupt classwork and discipline in the school.” However, that should be the final answer to a situation. The school clearly needs to deal with deeper issues within the student body that most likely will not be solved by banning patriotic T-shirts. If anything, this has made the situation worse as students may blame others for the feeling of loss when it comes to their free speech.

It raises eyebrows when the American flag is censored in any form, but though the school may feel strongly that they made the safest, most reasonable decision in this situation, there were certainly other options that were available. 

Questions should be raised at whether the school has done everything in its power to handle the escalating violence. All students within the school should be capable of entering a learning environment where they feel comfortable expressing their values and thoughts. Live Oak High School needs to begin a deeper dialogue with their students and staff to handle the violence in a manner that does not require violating the First Amendment rights we have each been granted in this country. 

High school students certainly are not granted as open free speech rights as many others, as school officials must think of safety and the learning environment, but they should feel confident that their free speech will be highly valued and considered as much as possible.

Finding a balance between safety and First Amendment rights may not be an easy task for this troubled high school. However, using speech to foster a dialogue should be valued over silence.