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Discussion

The issue is, under the 1st Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the Alberton High

School student handbook, was, principal, Vath of Alberton High School allowed to suspend

Cassandra Joneson, for putting up posters that referenced the Bible? Cassandra Joneson is the

captain of the cheerleading team, which was making posters with Bible verses to promote the

upcoming football game, and displaying them all around the school. Principal Vath could have

suspended her, because the cheerleading team represents the school and therefore can not

promote one religion over another. Because of this, Cassandra does not have a case and cannot

sue the Alberton School District.

The first rule of law that is used in this case is the first Amendment of the U.S.

Constitution, which states: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,

or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the

right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of

grievances.” In this case, Cassandra, claims that her first Amendment rights were violated by

Principle Vath of the Alberton School District, who punished her for making posters with Bible

verses on them. Cassandra claims that she had the right to speak freely and write what she

wanted to on the posters and that the school in suspending her for exercising her first

Amendment right violated the first Amendment. We have the first Amendment in the U.S.

Constitution so our basic human rights can be protected. The second rule of law that is used in

this case is rule nine of the Alberton High School’s Code of Conduct, which states:
“Profanity/Obscenity: Use of language, gestures, or conduct that is vulgar, profane, obscene or

abusive, or disruptive to teaching or learning, and possession of offensive materials such as nude

photographs, pornographic videos, etc. are prohibited. [S.B. Reg. 5-36.3, C., and 5-36.9/Rule

9].” In this case, Cassandra was suspended for violating this rule, because her posters were

deemed abusive to people who were not of that religion. We have rule nine of the Alberton High

School’s Code of Conduct so the safety and wellbeing of the students can be protected and

ensured.

The third most important piece of secondary authority is an article from ​The LA Times

titled ​Court Rejects Student Plea on Jesus as Topic​. The article explains how a ninth grade

student claims that her right to free speech was violated when she was told that she could not

choose the life of Jesus Christ as a topic for her english paper. In March 1991, Dana Ramsey, a

teacher told her ninth grade students to write a research paper and told them that all of the topics

must be approved by her first. When Brittany Settle said she wanted to write her paper on the life

of Jesus Christ, her teacher said no. Brittany then proceeded to write her paper on the life of

Jesus Christ and received a “zero” on the project. Her father then complained to the school

officials and sued the school for damages. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on the side of the

school and so did the U.S. Court of Appeals. The important thing to draw from article was that

the U.S Supreme Court ruled in favor of the school because teachers and administrators have

broad leeway to control the curriculum and what is and is not appropriate for class or school.

The second most important piece of secondary authority is an article from the ​U.S

Department of Education​ titled ​Guidance on Constitutionally Protected Prayer in Public

Elementary and Secondary Schools​. This article clarifies the details of religion at school.
Throughout the whole article it states that the school can not promote any one religion. The most

important thing to take from this article is that schools have lots of authority over what is

advertised on school property, media and news. Which means that the principle had the right to

decide what posters or fliers could be put up on school property. Some counter arguments found

in this article are that students may express their beliefs about religion in homework, artwork,

and other written and oral assignments free from discrimination. Although posters could be

considered artwork, this was not an assignment given to them by a teacher to complete. These

posters were done on their own account so they should not be able have religious writings on

them. The other counter argument found in this article is that students do not shed their first

amendment rights when they are at school. While this may be mostly true it is not completely

true. The school has the right to censor what goes on in school to ensure the safety and wellbeing

of everyone there. That is why there are certain ruled made.

The first most important piece of secondary authority is a ​CBS​ ​News ​article titled ​Texas

high school cheerleaders barred from using Bible verses on football banners​. This article

explains how at Kountze High School, a banner was made for football students to run through at

the opening of the football game that had bible verses on it that praised jesus. People complained

to the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a foundation that fights for the separation of church

and state, who sent a letter complaining to the school system. After receiving a letter from them,

the superintendent banned the banners. Even though they were not made using school money or

on school property. The banners were banned because the cheerleading team represents the

school the school and the school can not promote one religion over others. The very same can be

applied to this case, because the fliers were put up by the cheerleading team, which represents
the school, it makes it seem as if the school was endorsing the christian bible verses itself, which

was why they were taken down and Cassandra was suspended. The first counterargument found

in this article, was that the fliers were not made using the schools money and it was not made on

school property so it has no relation to the school. That is not true, because the cheerleading team

is a school sports team that means that whatever they do as a team, reflects back on the school.

The second counterargument is that the students were not asking anyone to believe in christianity

or accept the faith. They were just wishing the football players goodluck. That is not true,

because their intentions may not be to convert everyone to christians, but it may make people of

other religions feel left out or excluded.

The precedent for this case is, ​Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe 530 US 290

(2000).​ In this case, a prayer was led before a home football game by a school elected chaplain.

Two families found it overly christian and filed suit against the school. After that, the Santa Fe

Independent School District made a rule allowing, but not requiring, student led, and student

initiated prayers before home football games. The school then, voted on whether invocations

were to be allowed at the games and who was going to give, these prayers. In ruling for Doe, The

Supreme Court upheld the previous court's decision, that a rule permitting student led, student

initiated prayer at football games violates the Establishment Clause. This is because The

Supreme Court decided that the football game prayers were public speech delivered on

government ground and at a school sponsored event. Because of that, the speech could have been

considered a government endorsement of a religion. This case is important, because it establishes

that even if prayers or acts of religions are student led, they are still on school property, which

could be seen as a school endorsement of one religion. It can be used against Cassandra to show
that even if she acted on her own to create them, it was still on school property, so therefore it is

not allowed

Conclusion

The issue is under the 1st Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the Alberton High

School student hand book, was, principal, Vath of Alberton High School allowed to suspend

Cassandra Joneson, for putting up posters that referenced the Bible. The rule of law used for the

case was the first amendment of the U.S. Constitution: “Congress shall make no law respecting

an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of

speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the

government for a redress of grievances,” and rule nine of the Alberton High School Code of

Conduct: “Use of language, gestures, or conduct that is vulgar, profane, obscene or abusive, or

disruptive to teaching or learning, and possession of offensive materials such as nude

photographs, pornographic videos, etc. are prohibited.” The analysis/application shows that the

school could have suspended Cassandra Jonsen for making and displaying her posters, which

also means she does not have a case. This is because, like stated in the first most important piece

of secondary authority, the ​CBS​ ​News ​article titled ​Texas high school cheerleaders barred from

using Bible verses on football banners,​ the fliers were put up by the cheerleading team, which

represents the school, and it makes it seem as if the school was endorsing the christian bible

verses itself. This is also true because, as stated in ​Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe

530 US 290 (2000)​, even if a religious activity, such as making fliers with Bible verses, is

student led or initiated, it is still not allowed because it is on school property and can still be
taken as the school endorsing one religion over the other. . Based on this legal research, a judge

would most likely side with the Ohnoudidnt School District.