[kjam22]

I'm of the opinion that the kid was told not to wear the shirt and he did it anyway. The kid and his parents were wrong. The constitutional way to have the school policy changed is to elect school board members who support your ideas, and who will direct the principle to change the policy. Ignoring it... or intentionally breaking the rules is the way someone who is out of step with the consensus of those around him.

He has free speech. He can wear the shirt on his private property all he wants. He can shout it all he wants. But when he wants to shout it or wear it in a facility that is owned and operated by tax payers or their elected officials, that is another issue. To suggest that he is free to do obey only the rules that he likes while in a publicly owned facility is really kinda silly.

[gumbo]

He has free speech. He can wear the shirt on his private property all he wants. He can shout it all he wants. But when he wants to shout it or wear it in a facility that is owned and operated by tax payers or their elected officials, that is another issue

The courts disagree with you. They have decided that free (political) speech extends to public schools. A student can wear a "Gay Pride" or "Black is Beautiful" t-shirt. If we're going to be even-handed, we must also permit "Straight Pride" and "You might be a redneck if..." t-shirts.

[AttorneyMan]

I'm of the opinion that the kid was told not to wear the shirt and he did it anyway. The kid and his parents were wrong. The constitutional way to have the school policy changed is to elect school board members who support your ideas

Your “constitutional way” is not the only way. In fact, the Constitution prohibits punishment for refusal to obey an unconstitutional regulation. So it really doesn’t matter if Tom was previously warned not to wear the shirt. However, as someone who is involved in the case, I can tell you that he was NOT so warned.