Needville, Texas Superintendent Curtis Rhodes, was more explicit, posting a warning on Facebook forbidding demonstrations during school hours, and threatening 3-day suspensions for anyone taking part. "Life is all about choices, and every choice has a consequence whether it be positive or negative," he wrote. "We will discipline no matter it if is one, fifty or five hundred students involved... and parent notes will not alleviate the discipline."The post has since been taken down, and the school declined comment, but the warning got students worried — and got lawyers involved.
"Really what that is, is retaliation for a student expressing their first amendment rights," says Texas ACLU Staff Attorney Kali Cohen. She says the hard line approach is not only unconstitutional, but also flies in the face of public schools' mission, as affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court, to prepare young people to be engaged citizens.
