Baltimore school compels students to wear purple, or else ...

[PATSNUTme]

What is the big deal? They are holding a rally and requiring certain dress for the rally. It doesn't mean that kids can't attend school- they just can't attend the rally - no constitutional issues unless I missed the part in the Bill of Rights about the right to attend rallies.

Besides, in a couple of weeks the kids will be saying "that rally did us a lot of good. The Ravens lost to the Patritos and now we get to watch the team from NE win #4"

 

[TheGodInAGreyHoodie]

What is the big deal? They are holding a rally and requiring certain dress for the rally. It doesn't mean that kids can't attend school- they just can't attend the rally - no constitutional issues unless I missed the part in the Bill of Rights about the right to attend rallies.

If it is after school fine. During the school day it a serious infrindgement on speech.

If a school pulled this crap when I was a kid, it would be enough for me to wear a Jets Jersey to school in protest, dispite my rooting interest.

The first amemendment exist for a reason. I hope the school gets sued and the principal and superindentant get fired over this.

 

[Clonamery]

What is the big deal? They are holding a rally and requiring certain dress for the rally. It doesn't mean that kids can't attend school- they just can't attend the rally - no constitutional issues unless I missed the part in the Bill of Rights about the right to attend rallies.

Besides, in a couple of weeks the kids will be saying "that rally did us a lot of good. The Ravens lost to the Patritos and now we get to watch the team from NE win #4"

Sorry, but what if you don't have any purple wear and hate the library? I mean, really, purple? The library? It's just sick.

 

[Garbanza]

Oh for the love of G-d! Ugh, I hate the liberal Northeast sometimes! Amendments, constitutional rights...blah, blah, blah. It's a bunch of kids and an elementary school doing something fun and showing some unity. Big deal. Wish school's here would do this more. But nooooo....we have schools in Cambridge that have decided to abolish "Merry Christmas" and how 'bout the Sommerville, Ma school that got rid of Halloween celebrations because of the "message"...sometimes I just want to scream "#$%$@!"

 

[Deus Irae]

Oh for the love of G-d! Ugh, I hate the liberal Northeast sometimes! Amendments, constitutional rights...blah, blah, blah. It's a bunch of kids and an elementary school doing something fun and showing some unity. Big deal. Wish school's here would do this more. But nooooo....we have schools in Cambridge that have decided to abolish "Merry Christmas" and how 'bout the Sommerville, Ma school that got rid of Halloween celebrations because of the "message"...sometimes I just want to scream "#$%$@!"

What the hell does "Merry Christmas" have to do with what is essentially a uniform requirement for a rally in support of a private, non-affiliated, company?

 

[Deus Irae]

Well yeah, minor spelling errors obviously mean I car jack people and smoke/sell crack. Obviously.

I was referring to the quality of the education.

 

[Gwedd]

Sorry, but what if you don't have any purple wear and hate the library? I mean, really, purple? The library? It's just sick.

I think that the reason to have them wear purple is so that the teachers can use some of the background footage for SEIU advertisements. We have an election coming up soon.

 

[Gwedd]

Well yeah, minor spelling errors obviously mean I car jack people and smoke/sell crack. Obviously.

Nah....... it means you got caught by the Grammar Police.

 

[skspikex2]

Schools still use libraries?

 

[PATSNUTme]

If it is after school fine. During the school day it a serious infrindgement on speech.

If a school pulled this crap when I was a kid, it would be enough for me to wear a Jets Jersey to school in protest, dispite my rooting interest.

The first amemendment exist for a reason. I hope the school gets sued and the principal and superindentant get fired over this.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The school is not congress. It may be covered in another Amendment but I see no violation of the 1st. Besides it was stated in the article that they are not required to wear the purple.

OK,if a few kids go to the Ravens rally and start chanting 'let's go Patriots" and the school officials kick them out, is that violation of the 1st? I don't think so.

 

[PATSNUTme]

OK, let's not get into politics here or this thread will be closed fast. That could violate someones 1st Amendment rights, but I'll take the chance.

 

[i82much]

I really don't know about the constitutional issues. You'd be surprised how many subtleties there are to constitutional law. Often we Americans think we have certain absolute rights, but the courts have set up a fairly complex web of exceptions. If someone on the forum happens to be a constitutional law scholar or wants to cite some case law, we may be able to kind of unwind whether this is really a 1st amendment violation or not.

Regardless, I love the Ravens but I absolutely hate groupthink. There is really no reason for the school to impose the viewpoints of the administrators on the kids at the school. Any kid who doesn't want to wear purple is going to feel left out, and that's a pretty stupid consequence for what is, at the end of the day, a freaking football game and nothing more.

 

[Jackson 2]

I take the first amendment seriously.

The First Amendment allows free expression, but that expression, particularly in schools, is not absolute. Recent Supreme Court rulings, i.e. Morse v. Frederick, restrict student expression at school-sponsored events. With that said, I'm guessing those restrictions were not intended to be placed on situations such as the color of jersey issue at hand here.

 

[i82much]

OK, let's not get into politics here or this thread will be closed fast. That could violate someones 1st Amendment rights, but I'll take the chance.

sorry - probably posted while you were warning us.

 

[Clonamery]

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.


OK,if a few kids go to the Ravens rally and start chanting 'let's go Patriots" and the school officials kick them out, is that violation of the 1st? I don't think so.

That would be a violation of good sense.

 

[TheGodInAGreyHoodie]

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The school is not congress. It may be covered in another Amendment but I see no violation of the 1st.

Okay, technically it violates 1st and 14th amendment. The first amendment only applies to the federal goverment. The 14th amendment extended most but not all the rights in the 1st ten amendments down to the states/local goverment.

OK,if a few kids go to the Ravens rally and start chanting 'let's go Patriots" and the school officials kick them out, is that violation of the 1st? I don't think so.

Depends.

If they were doing it when all the kids were suppose to be quiet (e.g. when someone was addressing the group) then expecting them to behave as the other children would not violate the 1st amemendment.

However, if when all the other kids were "cheering lets go Ravens" some students cheered "lets go Patriots" then punishing those students would violate their first amendment rights.

 

[Deus Irae]

OK, let's not get into politics here or this thread will be closed fast. That could violate someones 1st Amendment rights, but I'll take the chance.

Private versus government

 

[PATSNUTme]

sorry - probably posted while you were warning us.

There were a few posts that were made that tip toed into politics while I was checking my 1st rights. So that was made as a general warning as poltics and football do not mix here.
We have a Political forum for political "discussion", if you want to call it that.

 

[TheGodInAGreyHoodie]

The First Amendment allows free expression, but that expression, particularly in schools, is not absolute. Recent Supreme Court rulings, i.e. Morse v. Frederick, restrict student expression at school-sponsored events. With that said, I'm guessing those restrictions were not intended to be placed on situations such as the color of jersey issue at hand here.

yes, schools can limit students speech when that speech is promoting illegal activities such as drug use.

 

[mgcolby]

I completely agree that this is inappropriate behavior by the school.

Sorry for being snarky, but if someone is going to offer low-class uninformed commentary on my hometown, then it's tough not to rebut.

You will find that a lot of folks in New England have an ignorant take on the other areas of the country, especially the south. It drives me nuts. I was born and raised in Mass and Maine, but traveled around the country via the Army and now live in VA. And if you are from the south you are a hick, redneck, bad schools etc... to way to many people in the area and on this board. And IMO, a lot of that stems from not actually leaving New England.

Now, I am no fan of Baltimore, the inner harbor is nice and around the stadiums. But the rest of the city not so much. I go there several times a year for different reasons and do my best not to venture to far out of that area. One thing I can say about Boston is there is not one area in Boston that is as run down as the bad parts of Baltimore.