A Tullahoma High School has sued the school district as well as the principal and vice principal of the high school for violating his First Amendment rights after the student was suspended for Instagram posts skewering the principal, NBC News reports. The student, who will be a senior in the coming school year, posted the memes featuring principal Jason Quick, shown above, to his account over the summer of 2022.
As school began in August 2022, the student was called into the principal’s office and told he would be suspended for five days. The student suffered a panic/anxiety attack which made him physically ill. After the school notified his mother, the principal met with her and told her the suspension was reduced to three days.
“The First Amendment bars public school employees from acting as a round-the-clock board of censors over student expression. The Supreme Court has been clear: Unless a student’s off-campus expression causes a substantial disruption at school, the job of policing their speech falls to parents, not the government,” the suit said.
The student’s lawyer notes that the plaintiff has experienced physical and mental harm over the punishment for posting non-violent memes, and he worries that the mark on his permanent record will cost him college acceptances and financial aid.