My Comments to the Robert E. Lee County School Board 2/10/2026

On Dealing with Student Protest

I was one of eleven speakers addressing the Lee County School Board last night. My comments are above. If you are interested in the full action meeting, you can watch it here. Public Comments start at about 42 minutes. The deceptive statistics that I reference you can find around 38:40. Dr. Carlin tried to minimize the extent of the protest by including all schools and students in the count. Only high school students participated. Out of thirty-two public high schools in Robert E. Lee County, seventeen participated in the protests.

My comments start at about 1:04:30.

Board member Armor Persons clarifies the district position at about 1:10:40. He mentions Tinker v. Des Moines, the Supreme Court case that defines student and teacher free speech. He is correct that Tinker protects the students’ right to protest. He was incorrect in claiming that Tinker allows schools to define when and where those protests take place. Tinker protects student and teacher speech to the extent that such speech does not “materially and substantially interfere with the operation of the school.” It’s not enough that a protest may be disruptive. It must be materially and substantially disruptive. A protest in the school courtyard is arguably no more disruptive to learning than the Herff Jones Assemblies we have every year.

Tinker also limits student and teacher speech to the extent that it impinges on the rights of others. Again, a voluntary protest in the courtyard does not qualify.

Regardless, Persons is claiming that it is school district policy to focus on the students who got out of hand. In at least one case, students jumped the fence and left school property, which I can see as a problem and substantially disruptive. In other instances, students used “vulgarities.” Vulgar language is not protected student or teacher speech according to the Fraser decision in 1986. If this is the case, great! I would say the district response is defensible. If, however, it is their goal, as their communications that were emailed to parents infers, to punish the protestors for being disruptive, then such action is a clear violation of free speech.

As it turns out, while I was a teacher I was involved in administrative responses to protests on a few occasions. This happened under two school principals¹. In all cases, the administrators focused on student safety and the protection of all student rights, including those not participating. In other words, they handled school protests in a professional and ethical manner.

I would point out that there is a paranoid undercurrent brewing in Robert E. Lee County School District. Based on some social media responses to the protests that I read, and some of the public comments shared with the board last night, there are those who are insisting that, “heads need to roll.”2² They are looking for the teachers who instigated these protests (because everyone knows that teenagers are incapable of independent thought), and those administrators and teachers who “lost control” of the students. “What if a mass shooter planned this event?” Come on.

I would wager that no teachers or staff were involved in the planning of these protests. Also, no administrators or staff “allowed” the situation to get out of hand. Sometimes, when dealing with lots of kids, things get out of hand. As is the case with most witch hunts, however, if you look hard enough…you’ll find a witch. Teachers need to be prepared.

Oh! And for the record! I literally wrote a pronunciation guide on my speaker’s ticket and the legal beagle dude mangled my name worse than just about anyone else! Just sayin’.