Yesterday a Pennsylvania federal district court issued an Agreed Temporary Consent Order in E.B. v. West Shore School District, (MD PA, filed 10/5/2009). The case grew out of an incident in which a Lewisberry, Pennsylvania middle school student was told by school officials to remove his T-shirt which carried the message "Abortion is Not Health Care". He wore the shirt to school on the day President Obama was delivering a national address to school students. The student's father sued on his son's behalf alleging in the complaint (full text) that the school's Student Expression Policy violates the 1st and 14th Amendments as well as Pennsylvania's Religious Freedom Protection Act. The complaint alleges in part that the Policy prevents his son "from incorporating his private religious expression into his clothing based solely on the religious and political nature of his expression." (ADF press release.)
Under the consent order issued yesterday (which remains in effect until Jan. 15), in exchange for plaintiffs not seeking a preliminary injunction, the school agreed not to enforce certain provisions in its Expression Policy. It will not bar expression on the ground that it "seek[s] to establish the supremacy of a particular religious denomination, sect, or point of view," nor will it enforce the ban against expression that might be "otherwise deemed harmful to impressionable students." The school will also not enforce the portion of its Dress and Grooming Policy that bans "clothing which creates a hostile educational environment or evidences discriminatory bias or animus." An Alliance Defense Fund release reported on the temporary order.
