Sep 20, 2007 1:34 pm US/Central
'Hitler Youth' Buttons OK'd By Federal Judge
NEWARK, N.J. (CBS) ―
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Parents of two students in New Jersey claim their school district was wrong to threaten to suspend them for donning Hitler youth buttons to protest school uniforms.
AP
Two students in northern New Jersey can wear buttons featuring a
picture of Hitler youth to protest a school uniform policy, a federal judge
ruled Thursday.
U.S. District Judge Joseph A. Greenaway Jr. sided with the parents of the
students, who had been threatened with suspension by the Bayonne school district last fall for wearing
the buttons. However, the judge added in his ruling that the boys will not be
allowed to distribute the buttons at school.
Citing a 1969 case in Iowa involving students who wore black arm bands to
protest the Vietnam War, Greenaway wrote that "a student may not be
punished for merely expressing views unless the school has reason to believe
that the speech or expression will 'materially and substantially disrupt the
work and discipline of the school."'
Greenaway's decision "follows the law as we saw it going in," said
Karin R. White Morgen, an attorney representing both boys' families. "We
believed that it was the Tinker decision that applied," she added,
referring to the Iowa
case.
The buttons bear the words "no school uniforms" with a slash through
them superimposed on a photo of young boys wearing identical shirts and
neckerchiefs. There are no swastikas visible on the buttons, but the parties
agreed that they depict members of Hitler youth.
Bayonne instituted mandatory uniforms last September for grades K-8, and
fifth-grader Michael DePinto wore the button several times before objections
were raised in November, attorneys for the plaintiffs said.
In a letter dated Nov. 16, 2006, Janice Lo Re, principal of Public School 14,
notified Laura DePinto that her son "will be subject to suspension"
for wearing the button in school.
Parents of the other student, Anthony LaRocco, a seventh-grader at the Woodrow Wilson School,
received a similar letter from principal Catherine Quinn.
After the suspension threat, the boys' parents filed a federal lawsuit claiming
the district stifled the children's First Amendment free speech rights. They
also have challenged the uniform policy with the state Department of Education.
Neither boy has worn the button since the lawsuit was filed, Morgen said.
District lawyers asserted that the image of the Hitler youth was abhorrent
because it conveyed intolerance and racial inequality represented by Nazism.
Messages left on Thursday with Bayonne Superintendent of Schools Patricia L.
McGeehan and district attorney Robert Merryman were not immediately returned.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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