OHIO — What began as a battle over a student’s right to view his Web page at school has resulted in a ruling that the conduct code at North Canton City Schools is unconstitutional.
\n\n Jonathan Coy was suspended for five days from North Canton Middle School in 2001 for viewing ”lewd and obscene material” on his skateboarding Web site during school hours.
\n\n In April 2002, a federal trial court found that a section of the school district’s conduct code was ”constitutionally invalid on its face” because it was too vague.
\n\n The passage stated, ”Any action or behavior judged by school officials to be inappropriate and not specifically mentioned in other sections shall be in violation of the Student Conduct Code.”
\n\n The school district has since altered the code to read, ”Students will not be punished or limited in their lawful right to express themselves on-campus or off-campus in a manner that is protected by the First Amendment.”
case: Coy ex rel. Coy v. Bd. of Education of North Canton City Schools, 205 F.Supp.2d 791 (N.D. Ohio 2002)