First Amendment likely prevents Pine-Richland from disciplining student after racist Homecoming sign incident

Pine-Richland School District likely does not have the legal authority to discipline a high school student whose homecoming proposal sign went viral on social media and left members of the community dismayed, according to an attorney with the Pennsylvania School Boards Association.

The First Amendment likely prevents the district from taking action against the boy, said Stuart Knade, the association’s chief legal officer.

The homecoming proposal took place off campus, and school districts have a “very limited ability” to regulate off-campus speech, Knade said.

“Outside of true threats and things that may create a substantial disruption of the educational process, there’s really not much a district can do in regard to off-campus expressive activity,” Knade said.

The sign’s message, which has been recreated by high schoolers across the country for years, read, “If I was black I would be picking cotton, but I’m white so I’m picking you for Homecoming?!” In the photo, a high school girl stands next to the boy holding a bouquet of flowers and making an obscene hand gesture.

When a photo began circulating on social media, the district was quick to tell the community it was taking the “appropriate next steps.”

But apart from written statements and comments made by school board members at the Sept. 12 board meeting, district officials have remained tight-lipped about the incident.

“Due to confidentiality and other concerns, we are unable to comment publicly on this matter beyond the statements that were made during the school board meeting held (on Sept. 12),” district solicitor Don Palmer said via email.

The silence has left some students, parents and community members wondering what will come of the situation.

Several Supreme Court decisions have upheld students’ First Amendment rights in cases like this. Most recently, in Mahanoy Area School District vs. B.L. (2021), the court ruled 8-1 that officials in a Pennsylvania district could not discipline student Brandi Levy for an off-campus, vulgar Snapchat post.

Levy posted “F—- school f—- softball f—- cheer f—- everything” after she didn’t make the varsity cheerleading squad and didn’t get the position that she wanted on a softball team unaffiliated with the district.

In response, school officials suspended Levy from the cheerleading squad for one year. Through her parents, she sued in federal court.

In the Supreme Court’s majority opinion, Justice Stephen Breyer wrote that schools’ regulatory interests are lessened when students engage in off-campus speech through social media.

“The school’s interest in teaching good manners is not sufficient, in this case, to overcome B.L.’s interest in free expression,” Breyer wrote.

When schools need to address off-campus speech that is inconsistent with their values, the “cure” is more speech, Knade said.

Pine-Richland already took this step. In a statement, Superintendent Brian Miller called the language on the sign “racist,” “highly offensive” and “completely inappropriate,” and board vice president Amy Terchick urged community members not to let the actions of one student “define the vision and values” of the district.

Terchick added she believes the district needs to have conversations with the community following this incident. Board member Matthew Mehalik suggested his colleagues participate in diversity training as a board.

Some parents would like to see policy changes in the aftermath, however. Parents at the Sept. 12 board meeting pushed for the district to adopt a diversity, equity and inclusion policy after the board voted down a DEI policy in May.

Pine-Richland is a predominantly white school; white students make up more than 87% of its student body.

“What happened this week is not an isolated incident,” parent Alyssa Gerlak told district officials at the meeting. “You are all well aware of the need in this community to educate our students on this topic because it doesn’t always start in the home, and this week’s events proved it.”