Girl Wearing 'Jena 6' shirt Causes A Stir At Alta Loma High
RANCHO CUCAMONGA - A group of Alta Loma High School students wearing "Free the Jena 6" T-shirts last week were asked to turn them inside out by school administrators citing safety concerns. Principal Jim Woolery said the decision was made during first period, and the shirts had not yet caused any kind of disturbance.
He said similar moves are made "any time there is a potential for disruption on campus in one way or another.
"We sat down on that day and met with each of those students, really for two hours, to discuss the issue, the shirts themselves," Woolery said Monday.
There were at least 15 students involved in the protest at Alta Loma High Thursday, some of whom had the phrase on their shirts. Their efforts coincided with one in Jena, La., where tens of thousands of marchers crowded the streets to protest what they consider unfair treatment of six black Jena High School teens accused of assaulting a white classmate.
Five of the Jena teens were originally charged with attempted second-degree murder - charges that have been reduced for four of them. The sixth was booked as a juvenile and the charges are sealed.
The treatment of the Jena teens sparked concerns that the charges
were initially more serious because the students are black.
First Amendment advocates were critical of the Alta Loma High administration's decision to have the students hide the political message on their shirts.
Peter Bibring, staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, said a potential for disruption is not enough for a school to prohibit students' political speech - there must be an "imminent threat" of violence.
Students' rights to political speech can only be restricted if the message on their apparel constitutes "a clear and present danger to the life, safety, or health of pupils or school personnel," according to the state Education Code.
"If we were talking about a school in Jena, there might be some justification because, after all, the whole thing started with some fights at school," said Terry Francke, general counsel for Californians Aware.
"But that's not the case here," he continued. "It's simply a national issue that some students were taking sides on. And that can never be enough for suppressing what they say."
Students interviewed at the school Monday were equally critical of the school's actions.
"I don't think that's right, because they say we have freedom of speech rights," said Briana Martinez, a senior at the school.
Nicole Flanagin, a senior, said: "They need to stand up for what they believe in - they were just T-shirts."
As a compromise, Alta Loma High officials agreed to allow the students to hold a forum in the coming weeks to discuss social justice issues.
"What we came up with as a group was to decide to give the students a venue to speak on injustice," Woolery said.
The students will be permitted to wear their shirts to the forum.
Anessa Rankins, a senior at the school who wore black on Thursday in support of the Jena Six, said the forum will make up for students' initial disappointment over the shirts.
"It's better now because we have the big day for it, and we get to wear the shirts," she said.
First Amendment advocates agreed the forum was a positive gesture by administrators, with one caveat.
"That doesn't change the fact that (students) have the right to wear those shirts as well, absent a genuine disruption of the school," Bibring said.
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