School fails basic free speech test

High school administrators ought to have their hands full keeping order on campus. Not at Braden River High School in Manatee County, where school officials have added regulating free speech on the Internet to their domain.

It's another example of the long-running turf war between administrators, civil liberties activists and rebellious teenagers.

Braden senior Mike Egloff, 18, was not allowed to attend his graduation ceremony scheduled for today after administrators came across a rap song he helped record and upload to MySpace.com.

School officials cited profanity, sexual innuendo and threats of violence in the recording, which did not involve any public property. They said they had jurisdiction because some students had listened to the song at school on iPods.

The Manatee County school system seems to have forgotten that the constitutional rights of students don't end at schoolhouse doors. School officials need a remedial course on the First Amendment if they think they can punish teenagers for off-campus activity.

Since 1969 in Tinker vs. Des Moines, the Supreme Court has ruled in favor of First Amendment rights for students. The only caveat is that administrators can restrict on-campus speech that would disrupt normal school activity. This case does not meet that standard. Even Web sites that profanely criticize school officials have been protected.

These particular song lyrics are not egregiously offensive. Lyrics cited include "Lakewood boys is going bleed" and "Lakewood Ranch, I'm your No. 1 problem." That's Sesame Street material compared to some songs playing on the radio.

It's a shame that graduation day will have passed before the punishment could be inevitably overturned by the courts.

Egloff's out-of-town relatives had already made plans to attend the ceremony. It seems as though it's the school, not the students, who have done the disrupting.