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May 8, 2008 5:43 pm US/Central
Judge Upholds WISD Policy Barring Political Shirts
WAXAHACHIE (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ―
Officials in the Waxahachie school district were in federal court defending the school's dress code policy.
Waxahachie student Pete Palmer was told he was in violation of the school dress code policy by wearing a campaign shirt that read "Edwards '08."
The district said it was enforcing the dress code policy by suspending Palmer.
But the Liberty Legal Institute said the decision violated the student's free speech rights.
Thursday, the two sides were in Judge Barbara Lynn's federal court room. Liberty Legal has asked for a temporary injunction barring the school district from enforcing the policy.
But an unforeseen loophole is preventing any changes. The school told the judge that t-shirts were the only article of clothing involved in the current language of the dress code.
"The policy prohibits t-shirts with printing. It does not prohibit other articles of clothing with printing. So the injunction was denied," said Sara Leon, WISD Attorney.
"All the kids in Waxahachie now can show up and wear whatever polo shirts they want to wear for the rest of the school year as long as it doesn't have anything rude or obscene on it. They can wear whatever messages they want on their polo shirts," said Hiram Sasser, Liberty Legal Institute.
But that's only for the rest of the 2007-2008 school year. New policy is being developed for 2008 – 2009. The judge and the other side will review the new policy before allowing the trail to continue, if necessary, later in the summer.
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