In 1969, the United States Supreme Court extended the right of free expression to students who attend U.S. public schools in its Tinker v. Des Moines decision.
The landmark decision began with a barely visible blip: three students were suspended from their Des Moines schools for wearing black armbands to protest the Vietnam War.
With help from the Iowa Civil Liberties Union and its national counterpart, the students appealed their case all the way to the Supreme Court.
The justices who supported the majority decision agreed free expression could not be silenced in public schools. The only exception, the court reasoned, would be forms of expression that “materially and substantially interfere with the requirements of appropriate discipline in the operation of the me.”
Hoover Principal Don Hulin released a statement Aug. 31, declaring the school welcomes free expression unless it “disrupts the learning environment or deprives the rights of