Free Speech and Public Education

Changes to K-12 education during the COVID-19 pandemic have produced new concerns about free speech for students and teachers, notes Christine L. Self in her March Illinois Bar Journal article, “Free Speech and Public Education.” In Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L., the U.S. Supreme Court extended First Amendment protections regarding off-campus social media activity but arguably left open the door to school district regulation of student and, perhaps, teacher speech related to computer-based learning.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers, students, and parents became part of a huge educational experiment as remote learning became a daily reality. As teachers and students saw into one another’s lives and homes in ways they never had before, the blurring of lines between home and school raised a number of issues, including, Self argues, First Amendment speech issues.

To read the rest of the story, see Self’s article, “Free Speech and Public Education” in the March 2022 Illinois Bar Journal.