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Pennsylvania Student Ordered to Remove Pro-Life T-Shirt During Obama Address to Students

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski

SCRANTON, Pa. October 14, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A student at Crossroads Middle School in Lewisberry was ordered by the school's principal, Robert Savidge, to remove the T-shirt he was wearing that bore the message, "Abortion is not Healthcare," on the day of President Obama's public address to students in September because the official deemed the shirt "inappropriate."

The student wore his shirt to express his viewpoint on abortion and did so without incident until his fifth period teacher sent him to the principal's office to see whether the shirt was "appropriate."  There the student was ordered to remove his shirt on the grounds that it might insult somebody.  He was sent to the nurse's office, where he turned his shirt inside out because he had no other shirt to wear.

Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) attorneys filed a lawsuit in federal court on October 5th against the West Shore School District for prohibiting the student from wearing the T-shirt. The ADF says that the school usually allows other students to wear a wide variety of messages on their clothing.

"Pro-life students shouldn't be censored for their views," said ADF Senior Legal Counsel David Cortman in a press release.

"It's clearly unconstitutional for school officials to prohibit a student's message on the grounds that someone might not like it. The school routinely allows students to wear a wide variety of messages on their shirts without any concerns, but this student has been singled out even though his shirt caused no disruption and is clearly within the bounds of constitutionally guaranteed free speech."

ADF attorneys are challenging two school district policies: One is a "student expression" policy, which prohibits speech that "seek[s] to establish the supremacy of a particular religious denomination, sect, or point of view" and speech that "contain[s] material otherwise deemed harmful to impressionable students." The other is a "dress and grooming" policy that prohibits "clothing which creates a hostile educational environment or evidences discriminatory bias or animus" or displays "inappropriate words."

"These are highly unconstitutional policies that demonstrate that there's a widespread need for schools to be educated about the First Amendment. Under the current wording, a student could actually be prevented from saying that his beliefs are true," Cortman explained.

"The policies also allow officials unrestricted discretion in determining what speech violates the policies. In this case, they clearly singled out this student's pro-life speech and illegitimately censored it."

To express your concern to the school district administration:
Dr. Jemry L. Small, Superintendent of Schools
West Shore School District
507 Fishing Creek Road
New Cumberland, Pennsylvania, USA 17070-0803
Phone: 717-938-9577
Fax: 717-938-2779
Email: JSmall@wssd.k12.pa.us

To express your concern to the school principal:
Robert Savidge, Principal
Crossroads Middle School
535 Fishing Creek Road
Lewisberry, PA, USA 17339-9518
Phone: 717-932-1295
Email: RSavidge@wssd.k12.pa.us

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