Federal court: Mahanoy violated student’s rights in cheerleading removal for Snapchat post
By Kaylee Lindenmuth
SCRANTON, Lackawanna County – A federal court in Lackawanna County yesterday ruled in favor of a Mahanoy Area student, who contended the school district violated her free speech rights when a social media post led to her removal from a cheerleading squad.
According to the American Civil Liberties Union, the student, daughter of Lawrence Levy and Betty Lou Levy according to court documents, had posted to Snapchat expressing frustration with school and cheerleading in her sophomore year, and was subsequently punished “under cheerleading team rules that prohibit ‘disrespect’ and prohibit posting any ‘negative information’ about cheerleading online.”
The student, referred to by initials B.L. in the court filings, had been placed on junior varsity for the second consecutive year, and “to add insult to injury, an incoming freshman made the varsity squad,” court filings read.
The post, the ACLU says, was posted on a weekend while the student was not at a school activity. The post was discovered by the daughter of a cheerleading coach, according to court filings.
The student was reinstated to the cheerleading squad in September 2017 after winning a temporary restraining order, and continues to participate to this day.
In the ruling, federal district court Judge A. Richard Caputo explained that the First Amendment does not allow schools to punish students for their out-of-school speech just because that speech is inconsistent with what the school is teaching or because other students complain about it.
“The court recognized that public schools have no authority to discipline students for off-campus speech, except in very narrow circumstances,” said Reggie Shuford, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, which represented the student. “Public schools need to stick to educating students and stay out of the business of disciplining them during their off hours.”
The ruling states that “Mahanoy Area School District’s disciplinary action against B.L. for her out-of-school speech violated B.L.’s rights under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution,” and ordered nominal damages of $1 to B.L and that the Mahanoy Ares School District expunge any record of its disciplinary action.
“As Judge Caputo observed, schools don’t have absolute authority over students. Students have the right to speak freely on their own time. And that’s no less true for cheerleaders,” said Molly Tack-Hooper, staff attorney at the ACLU of Pennsylvania and counsel for B.L.
In previous cases brought by the ACLU of Pennsylvania, the federal Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has ruled in favor of public school students who were disciplined for speech that was critical of school officials while they were off campus.
The full opinion rendered in the case can be read here.
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