According to “First Amendment 101: The Freedom of Speech,” by the American Civil Liberties Union, Freedom of Speech means people have the right to express their opinions, even if they’re unpopular, controversial or offensive – but there are some limits to what students are allowed to say inside of school.

While the First Amendment guarantees that “Congress shall make no law… abridging the freedom of speech,” there are certain limits to the things one can say. All definitions below are directly from the Cambridge dictionary, and information can be found in the same article by ACLU. 

According to the ACLU, speech is not protected under these circumstances:

Incitement: The act of encouraging someone to do or feel something unpleasant or violent. 

In Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969), the Court ruled that speech can be restricted if it’s intended to incite illegal activity and is likely to do so. 

In simpler terms, if you encourage someone to do something illegal or unlawful, the government can punish you-and it is not outside of your Constitutional rights. The term often referred to as “peer pressure” is a good modern example of this.

Threats: A suggestion that something unpleasant or violent will happen, especially if a particular action or order is not followed.

If a reasonable person would believe the threat is real, the government can intervene.

In simpler terms, if you say something with an intention to inflict pain, injury, damage, or other hostile action on someone in response to something said or done.

Obscenity: A very offensive or sexually shocking word or sentence.

Content that is sexually explicit and lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value. Most adult content that isn’t deemed obscene is protected under the First Amendment.

In simpler terms, if you mention, post, or say- material or behavior that’s sexually explicit, offensive- that’s obscenity.

Defamation: The action of damaging the reputation of a person or group by saying or writing bad things about them that are not true.

Lying about someone to damage their reputation (libel when written, slander when spoken) can lead to legal consequences, as defamation is not protected by the First Amendment.

In simpler terms, if you make false statements about someone that harm their reputation on purpose, that’s defamation. The government can provide legal consequences based on further investigation.

So what can the government do to restrict your speech?

In the same article by the ACLU,

• Time: The government can regulate when speech takes place, but not the content. For example, protests may be allowed during the day but restricted at night.
• Place: Speech may be restricted in certain locations. While public areas like parks and sidewalks are open for protests, you can’t block highways or gather in private spaces without permission.
• Manner: The government can regulate the volume of protests or whether megaphones can be used, but only if the restrictions are content-neutral (they apply to everyone, not just certain messages).

So how does all of this relate to you as a high school student?

According to an article written by the Georgia Alternative Education website, in Georgia, schools are able to remove students from their classrooms in emergency situations. This also allows them to place students into an AEP (Alternative Education Program) without a school board tribunal if the student is disrupting the daily success or rhythm of the classroom consistently or in a severe way. 

An alternative education program (AEP) that is meant to help students struggling in a traditional classroom, or misbehaving, excel in another setting. Each district will design its own AEP program. An AEP is meant to be a temporary educational setting for students to work on their behavior instead of suspending or expelling the student. 

In simpler words, Georgia schools have the ability to remove a student if they engage in things like: violence or assault, gang-related activities, threatening the school, sit-downs and walk-outs. While all of these things are not particularly acts that violate the First Amendment, laws have been created with specific parameters around education facilities to protect student and staff safety.