Teachers and The Law
7th
Chapter 19
When Can Schools Restrict
Personal Appearance?
Fischer, Schimmel, Stellman
PowerPoint Presentation
Gerri Spinella Ed.D.
Elizabeth McDonald Ed.D.
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Key Concepts
When Can Schools Restrict Personal Appearance?
Grooming
Standards for
Teachers
School
Dress Codes
Teachers’
Clothing
Students’
Grooming
School Uniforms,
Gang Clothing,
And Message
T-Shirts
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Chapter 19
When Can Schools Restrict Personal Appearance?
Essential Question
How have the state courts
provided education choices
for children?
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KEY TERMS- Chapter 18
Personal liberty
422
Symbolic Speech
423
Student’s Grooming and School Dress Code
422-431
Protected liberty
424
Unnecessary burden
424
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Grooming Standards
for Teachers
• Teachers must have due process for
violating a school’s grooming code.
• Teachers probably do not have a
constitutional right to wear beards and
sideburns in most cases.
• Grooming is perhaps a constitutional right
if it reflects a teacher’s racial or ethnic
values and beliefs.
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Cases
Blanchet v. Vermilion Parish School Board
East Hartford Education Association v. BOE
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Teachers’ Clothing
• Teachers do not have a constitutional
right to dress as they wish.
• Teacher‘s refusal to conform to a school
dress code may not be protected as a
form of symbolic expression.
• Teacher’s religious message T-Shirt is
not protected speech.
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Students’ Grooming
• A personal liberty protected by the
Fourteenth Amendment (422-423)
• Symbolic speech protected by the First
Amendment (423)
• A denial of equal protection (423)
• A right to govern one’s personal
appearance (423-424)
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Students’ Dress Codes
• School dress codes
• Schools can regulate student clothing
• Different opinions (by state) on girls wearing
slacks or jeans
• Detailed dress codes (if they have an educational
rationale) can be constitutional
• 2 Part Test to determine if wearing ethic clothing is
a protected form of expression
• “No Hats” policies usually hold up.
• Sometimes courts rule the same way in clothing
cases as in hair controversies.
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Case
Bastrop Bd. Of Tr. V. Toungate
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
School Uniforms, Gang Clothing
and Message T-Shirts
School Uniforms pp. 431-432
• Schools can require school uniforms
Gang-Related Issues pp. 432-434
• Schools can prohibit the wearing of earrings,
jewelry, or other symbols of gang membership.
• Prohibitions of gang symbols can be void for
vagueness.
• Male earring prohibitions might be constitutional if
wearing the earring Is not associated with gangs.
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
School Uniforms, Gang Clothing,
and Message T-Shirts
• Message T-Shirts pp. 434-437
• Controversial T-Shirts may or may not be
banned.
• Sometimes schools can ban confederate
flags and symbols.
• Schools cannot ban all images of weapons.
• Schools cannot ban all team and college
clothing.
• Schools can regulate student dress at offcampus, extracurricular activities.
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Cases
Tinker v. Des Moines
Bethel v. Fraser
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Initial Proceedings
Complaint
Interrogatories
Facts of
claim by
plaintiff
seeks
Depositions
Defendant
Answers
(30 days)
or motion
to dismiss
Document
Requests
Discovery Begins
Settlement Conference
Step by Step
In The
Court System
OUTCOME
EDUCATIONAL IMPLICATION
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Chapter 19
When Can Schools Restrict Personal Appearance?
Reflection
Considering the range of decisions
regarding teacher and student freedoms:
when should schools restrict
student and teacher
freedom?
when should nonconformity be
protected or punished? (438)
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007