MANLIUS, N.Y. — After a Fayetteville-Manlius High School student spoke exclusively with CNY Central about her civil rights lawsuit against the school district, two legal experts are weighing in on what could strengthen her case, and what could make it more difficult to prove.
Sixteen-year-old Dahlia Saada, through her father, is suing the Fayetteville-Manlius Central School District, its Board of Education and Superintendent Magda Parvey over the district’s response to a presentation she gave during a school-sponsored heritage assembly in May.
The proposed class-action lawsuit accuses the defendants of violating Saada’s free-speech and equal-protection rights, among other claims. Those allegations have not been proven in court.
Saada read “If I Must Die,” a poem by Palestinian writer and professor Refaat Alareer, during the assembly before speaking about Alareer and Palestinians killed in Gaza.
The following day, the high school principal sent families an email saying a student had presented what he described as a “politically charged” poem. The message said the district does not take positions on political issues and that political content does not belong at a school-sponsored assembly, regardless of the viewpoint expressed.
The district also said its normal process for reviewing student-created assembly content had not been followed.
Saada disputes that account. She told CNY Central that both the poem and the remarks she delivered afterward were submitted and approved before the assembly.
Nicholas Marricco, a senior associate at Tully Rinckey who says he has previously handled matters involving the F-M district, said that allegation could become an important fact in the case.
“I think that’s a key fact in this case, that it was approved by a teacher,” Marricco said. “I will say when I saw that in the complaint, I was like, ‘Wow, that’s a complicated fact,’ and the courts are going to have to wrestle with that.”
Public school students retain First Amendment rights, but schools also have some authority to regulate speech during school-sponsored activities.
Roy Gutterman, a professor at Syracuse University’s Newhouse School and director of the Tully Center for Free Speech, said prior approval could complicate any later response by the school.
“If they let it go, it’s kind of difficult to add a sanction after you’ve already approved something,” Gutterman said. “But criticism isn’t necessarily the same as getting kicked out of school or suspended.”
Gutterman reviewed portions of the complaint before speaking with CNY Central and focused his analysis on the broader First Amendment questions raised by the dispute.
Marricco said another major issue could be whether the district applied its rules consistently, regardless of the viewpoint being expressed.
“You have to look at whether the policy itself is viewpoint neutral,” Marricco said. “They can’t just pick and choose the type of speech that they agree with or disagree with.”
That distinction could become central to the case: whether F-M was neutrally enforcing rules governing school-sponsored speech or whether Saada was treated differently because of the viewpoint she expressed.
Even if a court ultimately finds that Saada’s rights were violated, the extent of any harm she can prove could become a separate issue.
Saada has said the district’s response made her more hesitant to speak publicly in the future.
Gutterman said criticism from school officials can still carry consequences even when it does not amount to a suspension or other formal discipline.
“Being criticized for your speech by administrators, that has a sting,” Gutterman said. “And it will send a chilling message to the next speaker as well.”
Saada’s lawsuit seeks, among other relief, a retraction of the district’s May communication, changes to district policies governing student expression and discrimination, and monetary damages.
CNY Central reached out to the Fayetteville-Manlius Central School District again Tuesday for comment on the lawsuit. The district did not respond by airtime.
This article is republished by permission of CNY Central. See original article.
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