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Bill Foster v. Board of Education

Allison Scott

Edu 210

Dr. Warby

February 19, 2018

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Bill Foster was a high school student in the northeastern united states. He filed a lawsuit

after being suspended for wearing an earring. The school had recently implemented a policy

against gang related items. These included armbands, earrings, jewelry, emblems and athletic

caps. Foster only wore the earring because he thought it would attract more females. He was

suspended for his act and began to sue the school.

For this case we can argue for or against Foster and his actions. To support Foster in his

lawsuit, we have the of Tinker v Des Moines Independent School District case. In this case, three

students chose to wear black arm bands in protest of the Vietnam war. The three students were

then suspended for wearing the arm bands and the students decided to take the issue to court. The

court ruled in favor of the students, stating that the suspensions were in violation of their

constitutional right to freedom of expression.

Another case we can examine to support Bill Foster would be the Chalifoux v. New

Caney Independent School District case. In this case, two students wore plastic rosaries to

represent their religious faith. At their school, they were prohibited from wearing any gang

affiliated materials. The principal found the rosaries to be gang wear and prohibited them from

being worn in school. In this case, the court ruled in favor of the students, stating that the terms

for gang attire were not properly defined and the students could not be held accountable and that

their freedom of speech and religion was being violated.

To argue against Foster, we have the Botoff v Van Wert City Board of Education case.

Here we have a school that has prohibited wearing any apparel by the Marilyn Manson band,

saying that the band represents and supports ideas that contradict those of the school. When a
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student wore a profane t-shirt, the principal sent him home, stating that it was inappropriate and

disruptive. The court agreed saying that “a school may prohibit a student from wearing a shirt

that is offensive, but not obscene on school grounds even if the shirt has not been shown to cause

a substantial disruption of the academic program”. Therefore, Bill Fosters earring could have

been considered offensive and the school could have had a right to suspend him.

Another case to support the school would be the case of West v Derby Unified School

District. In this case, the court ruled that a student had been properly suspended after drawing a

confederate flag in a classroom. Among items listed on their policy against racial harassment and

intimidation was the confederate flag. Given that the student was capable of knowing and

understanding the school’s rules and policies, the court ruled in favor of the school.

As for Bill Foster, he should have known and understood the rules that were put in place.

Students are responsible for knowing and respecting the rules. Fosters decision to wear and

earring, weather it was gang affiliated or not, should have been more though out and stopped

before consequences had to be implemented. I believe that the school had the right to suspend

Foster, given that the parameters for gang attire was clearly given, the student should have been

more responsible for knowing the rules and policies upheld by his own school.