S

A Tullahoma High School student has filed a lawsuit against Tullahoma City Schools and former THS principal due to being suspended for social media posts poking fun at the principal.

 According to the lawsuit, filed on Wednesday, July 19, the plaintiff, identified only as I.P. due to being a minor, names Tullahoma City Schools, former Principal Jason Quick and Derrick Crutchfield as defendants.

“This case is about a thin-skinned high school principal defying the First Amendment and suspending a student for lampooning the principal on the student’s Instagram page even though the posts caused no disruption at school,” the introduction to the lawsuit begins. “Plaintiff I.P. posted three images about his Tullahoma High School principal, Defendant Jason Quick. One showed Quick holding a box of vegetables, another (which I.P. merely reposted) showed Quick in a dress with cat ears and whiskers, and the third showed Quick’s face on a video game character being hugged by a cartoon bird. I.P. intended the images to satirize, in I.P.’s view, Quick’s overly serious demeanor. I.P. posted each image from his own device, off campus, and on his own time.”

The lawsuit contends that the First Amendment prevents schools from lording over students when they are on their own time.

“The First Amendment bars public school employees from acting as a round-the-clock board of censors over student expression. The Supreme Court has been clear: Unless a student’s off-campus expression causes a substantial disruption at school, the job of policing their speech falls to parents, not the government,” the suit contends

“The plaintiff contends the policy being enforced by the school is not constitutional,” the suit read. “To suspend I.P., Quick relied on a Tullahoma High School policy prohibiting students, whether at home or school, from posting pictures that “result in the embarrassment, demeaning, or discrediting of any student or staff,” regardless of whether the pictures substantially disrupt the school day. That policy is squarely unconstitutional under Mahanoy, and so is I.P.’s suspension. Tullahoma High School also prohibits students from engaging in social media activity “unbecoming of a Wildcat.” Because this vague policy fails to provide citizens sufficient guidance to inform them how to stay within the law, it is equally unconstitutional.”

The suit goes on to point out there were no complaints about the youth’s social media posts nor was there any disruption at the school. The suit also notes that the youth was undergoing care for clinical depression and that the imposition of the suspension from school caused him to have a panic attack.

In detailing the damages to the plaintiff, the suit maintains that the suspension will go on the youth’s record and could damage his ability to get scholarships.

“I.P.’s posts are protected First Amendment expression because they satirized a government official and did not create material disruption, cause substantial disorder, or invade the rights of others at school. The posts likewise did not cause Defendants to reasonably forecast such a disruption,” the suit contends. “As a direct and proximate cause of Quick’s and Crutchfield’s actions, I.P. was deprived of his rights guaranteed by the First Amendment and suffered damage to his reputation, physical and mental anguish, emotional distress, humiliation, and public embarrassment. I.P. is entitled to actual and compensatory damages against Quick and Crutchfield in an amount to be proven at trial.”

In their prayer for relief the plaintiffs want the youth’s suspension expunged from his permanent record and are asking for compensatory and punitive damages. They also want the school’s social media policy deemed unconstitutional.

Tullahoma City Schools does not comment on pending litigation.

The entire lawsuit is available here: