Free Speech Victory: Court Agrees Napa Middle School Dress Code Banning "Tigger" Goes Too Far

“Just in time for the Fourth of July, this decision reaffirms important free speech rights of California’s public school students,” said ACLU-NC staff attorney Julia Harumi Mass.

The case, filed March 19, challenges Redwood Middle School’s “Appropriate Attire Policy” which only allows solid-color clothes in blue, white, green, yellow, khaki, gray, brown, and no pictures, logos, words, or patterns of any kind, including stripes and flowers. School district defendants had enforced the policy to prohibit a variety of expressive clothing including plaintiff Toni Kay Scott’s “Tigger” socks, an American Cancer Society ribbon pin to support breast cancer awareness, and t-shirts emblazoned with “Jesus Freak” and “D.A.R.E. to keep kids off drugs.”

“We’re ecstatic that the court recognizes our kids’ rights to express themselves at school,” said Donnell Scott, mother of Toni Kay, upon hearing about the decision. “I’m only sorry the school district didn’t respond to our concerns when we raised them two years ago.”

Napa Superior Court Judge Raymond Guadagni held a hearing in the case on May 23. Yesterday, the court granted the families’ motion for a preliminary injunction. "The Court's decision supports our view that Redwood Middle School's uniform dress code policy violates not only the students’ First Amendment rights, but also California state law rights of students and their parents," explained Thomas V. Loran III, ACLU-NC cooperating attorney from Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP.

In its decision, the Napa court cited the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision Morse v. Frederick, 551 U.S. __ (June 25, 2007) as upholding the well-settled principle that student expression is protected as long as it does not “materially and substantially disrupt the work and discipline of the school.” Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School Dist., 393 U.S. 503, 513 (1969).

"We believe the Court's decision was thoughtful and well-reasoned. We are pleased that the Court agreed with each of the arguments we made in support of our request for an injunction," said Sharon L. O’Grady, ACLU-NC cooperating attorney at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP.

The court’s order prohibits the school district from enforcing the Appropriate Attire Policy as written without providing parents an opportunity to opt out of participation. With their parents’ permission, students returning to school this fall will be able to wear clothing that contains expressive messages, as well as a variety of colors and patterns.

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