In a suit filed Monday in federal court with the help of the
13, say they were suspended for a day and denied entrance to this
Friday’s dance because they refused to remove bright rubber bracelets
promoting an anti-cancer message.
Supported by the Keep a
Buying their bracelets in September — in memory of a
late aunt in Martinez’s case and a family friend in Hawk’s — the girls
were told by teachers in October to turn them inside out. On
The district says the bracelets offended several
teachers and prompted boys to make inappropriate comments about girls’
breasts, according to the suit. Other students were uncomfortable
discussing human sexuality topics, the suit says.
Flouting the policy with their parents’ permission, both girls wore the bracelets for the school’s
Breast Cancer Awareness Day. Martinez and Hawk refused to remove the
bracelets when sent to the principal’s office, resulting in a one-day
suspension and a 30-day ban from school dances.
The school’s stated reason, according to the suit, was “disruption” and “defiance/disrespect.”
The suit contends the bracelets didn’t cause the
“substantial and material disruption” of school operations legally
necessary to justify such a ban, calling the district’s dress code
against clothing “in poor taste” overbroad. Overreaching in its efforts
to regulate student speech, the district trampled the middle schoolers’
First Amendment rights, the suit says.
Through their mothers, the two girls ask for the
dress-code policy to be overturned, the bracelet ban lifted and their
records wiped clean.
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