9-15-2020 1:22pm

Did Little Miami Violate First Amendment Rights Of Two Football Players?

Rick Amburgey Neighbor

Update: In a letter dated Sept. 15, 2020, Bobbie Grice, president of the Little Miami school board, wrote that these two students have been returned to active status. The letter also said that potential consequences can be held by coaching staff. According to the letter, there was an investigation and it revealed that there was no political motivation behind the display, adding that the students showed insubordination.

I applaud this decision, but I still believe the First Amendment rights were violated by the original decision. I am concerned that coaching staff is still open to punish the students. I don't believe the school had the right to deny their request in the first place. Warren County Online News will continue to follow this story.

There is a controversy in Morrow.

If you haven't heard about it yet, here is a summary of what happened. Two senior football players at Little Miami High School decided that they wanted to run on the field with a flag with a thin blue line and a flag with a thin red line on September 11 to honor police officers and fire fighters, specifically those who lost their lives during the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. When their request to do this was denied, they decided to do it anyway. As a result, the school has suspended the two student athletes from the football team indefinitely.

Since the decision came out, a lot of people have been upset. Originally, I thought that punishment was excessive. I happened to agree with their decision, but I understood that it was something they were instructed not to do. Then, I began to wonder if the school district violated the First Amendment rights of the students. I don't have a definitive answer, but I think there is enough evidence there to warrant these two young men and their families to see a lawyer.

The First Amendment guarantees freedom of speech. Those students had to the right to express their respect for police officers and firefighters. The fact that they were on school property at a school activity doesn't change that. The 1965 Supreme Court ruling of Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School District said that students do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.” In that landmark case, students had been suspended when they wore wristbands to protest the Vietnam War. In this situation at Little Miami, I don't see their action as a protest. They have even said in interviews with local media that they weren't trying to make a political statement. They were simply honoring police officers and firefighters on a very important day in American history. As I understand it, the father of one of the players is a police officer and the father of the other player is a firefighter. This was clearly more personal for them than trying to make a statement.

Do schools have a right to limit the speech of students? The answer is they do in some cases, but I don't believe that applies here. A school is an educational institution and the purpose of a school is to teach the students. Their focus has to be on teaching academic standards and preparing students for the future. That's why the Supreme Court was clear that student speech at school cannot interfere with that purpose. In this case, it didn't take place in the classroom and education was not the focus. Their actions didn't result in a delay of the football game or cause a riot.

There is another question here. Did the school district give the students an excessive punishment? I believe they did. If there wasn't a violation of the First Amendment and the school did have the right to punish the students for their actions, they should not have been suspended from the team indefinitely.

When I was teaching at a high school, I was very aware what it means to students when they aren't allowed to participate in sports. By the school district suspending them from the team indefinitely, they are potentially impacting their lives and their future career. How are colleges going to watch them play if they are off the team? This could impact their ability to get a college scholarship or play football on a college level. Who is to say that one or both of them might not play in the NFL if the chance is not taken away from them. It is also taking away the experience of playing in front of the school and their community. That is something that they can't get back.

Now is the time for action. I encourage the school district to reverse their decision. The students deserve to take the field this Friday night and every Friday night for the rest of the season.