A Student's First Amendment

We recently discussed the first amendment in class. We even took a quiz that portrayed different situations and we decided if it should be protected by the first amendment or if it is limited. A couple of the situations we discussed involved the sticky situation between students and the first amendment. It was concluded that students are allowed to express themselves in anyway as long as it is not a disturbance to the classroom environment. One situation that has recently occurred falls right under this category. Sara Dickenson, a senior at East Haddam high school, was considered a disturbance by wearing a breast-cancer sponsored bracelet that read, “Keep a Breast”. Many teachers found this writing to be to provocative. One teacher even threatened to give her a detention for wearing it. Dickenson believed that this was a violation of her first amendment. She wore the bracelet in honor of her grandmother who died of breast cancer. Dickenson wanted to spread awareness. The American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut seemed to agree with Sara, and argued that her bracelet had no disturbance in the classroom environment. Sara also mentioned that, “… kids in [her] school walk around with hair that is absolutely neon pink… well, [she] really feels that neon pink hair is much more of a disturbance than a white bracelet.” Now, the final ruling from the US Supreme Court clearly states that, “School officials may forbid speech only when it threatens to materially or substantially interfere with the operation of the school”. And, as such, after two years, East Haddam officials finally allowed Sara to freely wear the bracelet. Now to me, this whole situation seemed unnecessary because I feel Sara was never a disturbance to the classroom environment. However, I do see the teacher’s point, but I do wonder where do you draw the line for something to be considered a disturbance in the school? A bracelet with provocative writing? Neon pink hair? Or even a shirt with provocative writing?