Students’ early morning decisions about what to wear to school have led many school districts into legal issues and policy challenges. Confederate belt buckles, exposed bellies, sagging pants, political statements, and social commentary have all been banned from schools, and these bans have often resulted in litigation by students who claim their constitutional right to free speech has been violated. Student Dress Codes and the First Amendment: Legal Challenges and Policy Issues explores the legal issues that arise when a school prohibits various types of student attire. Through an analysis of major Supreme and federal court cases, this volume examines conflicts that arise when administrators juggle a student’s right to free speech with the need to maintain an environment conducive to learning.

The Challenges of Mandating School Uniforms in the Public Schools: Free Speech, Research, and Policy explores the policy rationale, the constitutional rights of students, and the research on the impact of school uniforms.

This book could save you $1 million! OK, maybe not but some school districts have spent that much defending themselves (and not always successfully) in First Amendment lawsuits brought by students and their parents. First Amendment litigation is on the rise across the nation, and as any principal who has sat through a deposition in one of those cases can tell you, the raw emotions and zealous anger that fuels such disputes can become a massive distraction from your real job of running a school. The Oldest Rule is a comprehensive examination of the different First Amendment issues involving students that public school administrators and attorneys are increasingly facing on daily basis. We will look at such topics as school prayer, dress codes, student threats and cyberbullying, the distribution of literature, the use of public facilities by outside groups, the celebration of religious holidays, and the rise of esoteric religions and their impact in the public schools. Written by Chris Gilbert, an attorney with over twenty-one years experience advising and representing school districts big and small, urban and rural -- this book combines discussions of the legal standards and key case decisions with practical advice and hypotheticals.

This book examines how the intertwining of clothes and the United States Constitution raises fundamental questions of hierarchy, sexuality and democracy. Constitutional considerations both constrain and confirm daily choices. In turn, appearances provide multilayered perspectives on the Constitution and its interpretations. Garments often raise First Amendment issues of expression or religion, but they also prompt questions of equality on the basis of gender, race and sexuality. At work, in court, in schools, in prisons and on the streets, clothes and grooming provoke constitutional controversies. Additionally, the production, trade and consumption of apparel implicates constitutional concerns including colonial sumptuary laws, slavery, wage and hour laws, and current notions of free trade. The regulation of what we wear - or do not - is ubiquitous. From a noted constitutional scholar and commentator, this book examines the rights to expression and equality, as well as the restraints on government power, as they both limit and allow control of our most personal choices of attire and grooming.

American public schools censor controversial student speech that the Constitution protects. Catherine Ross brings clarity to court rulings that define speech rights of young citizens and proposes ways to protect free expression, arguing that the failure of schools to respect civil liberties betrays their educational mission and threatens democracy.

This volume presents multiple sides to dress codes in schools. It recognizes the intimate relationship between its subject and reader as it weaves together different points of view that concern students' rights to wear what they want to wear. Can students fight dress codes? Should teachers have dress codes? Are uniforms a way of controlling young people? Should school uniforms accommodate Muslim culture? These questions and more are answered in this book.

Since the 1960s, school rules and regulations concerning apparel and hair have been the subject of litigation in the federal courts. Most of this litigation involves students’ assertions that their clothing and hairstyle choices are forms of expression that are protected by the First Amendment. In some cases, students have argued that school dress and grooming codes discriminate against them based on their gender or their racial or ethnic identity. I Got Dress Coded explores court cases, policies, and research on student appearance and dress codes. The impact of Constitutional protections of student speech on sexual orientation, politics, weapons, drugs, and alcohol are explored as well as restrictions targeting female students and prohibitions on student appearance that reflects a student’s racial and ethnic heritage.