Hays HS Senior Shirt

datePosted on 15:18, December 3rd, 2009 by mrosman

Some students at Hays HS created a Senior Shirt. According to the Austin American Statesman, the front of the shirt reads “HHS Seniors 2010” and the back says, “Well, that sucked.” The Hays Free Press also reported on the incident.

The Principal has since banned the shirt and confiscated all shirts from students who have worn them on campus.

Is the principal violating the free speech rights of the senior students? Should the government (i.e. Hays CISD, the courts of Hays County) protect the right of the students to wear the shirt?

What does the Tinker case say about student speech? Can this help us understand the issue? What about the Bethel case?

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8 Responses to “Hays HS Senior Shirt”

  1. genesis on January 18th, 2010 at 8:33 pm

    the principle of the school shouldn’t have made such a big deal about it. instead he should have found a way to improve the school and maybe ask the seniors why they chose that for their shirt. he should have taken a postive turn on the situation and just asked them what the shirt meant to each student. then he could take the criticism and improve the school. the kids have a right to let the school know thier opinion and they chose their senior shirt to do it. they weren’t violating any of the established dress codes and they weren’t disrupting the learning enviroment.

  2. Yesica on January 13th, 2010 at 10:21 pm

    Having freedom of speech is what we are said to have, but in reality there are boundaries and regulations that we have to respect. Obviously the shirt makes the school and organization of HHS look bad, so the Principal had to do something about it. I don’t think that he took away the freedom of speech of the senior students simply because the underlying meaning of the shirt violated dress code. For example; in the real world someone that works in McDonalds will not be able to wear a shirt that says “McDonalds sucks!” when he is working because it is a dress code violation. Even though the shirt might be funny, it is more disrespectful.

  3. ROMO on January 13th, 2010 at 7:35 pm

    I don’t think that their is any problem in wearing the shirt. Like everyone has said, it takes away the freedom of speech. Also its not showing anything that has to deal with drugs, alcohol, or sex. Like Julielanelle said, their wasn’t a disturbance until the principal starting to take away the shirts from the kids.

  4. SaraSorenson on December 3rd, 2009 at 5:39 pm

    The Principal is taking away from there freedom of speech. The shirts may not be reflecting what the school would want but they do not have anything offensive on them or anything that would “disrupt the learning environment,” so the school district should support the students right to wear the shirts. The removal of the shirts make a bigger deal of the shirts than they actually need to be. According to what was decided with both the Tinker and the Bethel cases the students should be allowed to wear the shirts because they are speaking out that senior year isn’t what it is cracked up to be and I think every senior can relate to that.

  5. busche916 on December 3rd, 2009 at 5:36 pm

    I don’t think the shirt is a great shirt to wear, but I’m sure the school deals with much worse when it comes to dress code violations. I know the school is only taking action because it bears their name, but the shirt isn’t really that offensive and it seems more like a joke than an attack on our “american educational values”, or anything like that. Kids have a right to express themselves

  6. KellyG on December 3rd, 2009 at 5:24 pm

    I agree with Julie. it’s taking away their freedom of speech. They should be able to express their opinion on a shirt, no one has to look if it bugs them and instead of the principal letting it go he made a bigger deal out of it than it is. Some kids at the school may want the shirt more after he banded it…especially if the kids agree with what the shirt says.

  7. mrosman on December 3rd, 2009 at 4:25 pm

    So you’re saying that the removal of the shirts by the administration is more disruptive than the wearing of the shirts?

  8. julielanelle on December 3rd, 2009 at 3:44 pm

    This i think is so stupid for the principal to do. The only way that shirt became distruptive is when the principal made it a big deal. This kid should be able to wear and sell this shirt at school because that is a part of his freedom of speech. We have this right so that we can openly express our opinions (positive or negative) to the society that forms the opinions. The principal of Hays HS should read this shirt and digest it and then see what he can do to make his school better so that there won’t be a kid who will want to make a repeat of this shirt.