ACLU-Ohio wants student expression allowed in Ohio school district

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(The Center Square) – Four months after not allowing a student to present a final project about transgender activism, one of Ohio’s largest school districts is being encouraged to review its policies.

In a letter to the Dublin City Board of Education, the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio said students do not give up free speech and expression rights in school.

“Public schools may not restrict student expression merely because they disagree with it or find the message controversial. It has been well established that school censorship of political speech and viewpoint discrimination are unconstitutional under the First Amendment,” Amy Gilbert, senior staff attorney for ACLU-Ohio, said in a statement.

According to ACLU-Ohio, Dublin schools, the ninth-largest district in the state, stopped then-senior Corinne Embi from carrying out her final project at Jerome High School.

As part of a women’s studies course, Embi planned to have students, faculty and staff come to school dressed in pink, white and blue to show solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community. The school also stopped her from distributing transgender wristbands to students on school property.

Eventually, the district stopped all students from presenting their final project.

The school cited policies about disorder and disruption to stop the project. ACLU-Ohio says the policies raise First Amendment concerns.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1969 schools can limit student speech and expression if it causes a “substantial and material disruption.”

However, the Ohio General Assembly passed House Bill 214 in 2024 that provides specific protection for general discussion of political movements, ideologies and social action in classrooms. It also has specific protections for free speech rights of public school employees and students.

ACLU-Ohio’s letter to the Dublin school board does not discuss potential litigation, but asks the district to take steps to allow student expression.