Student Speech Policy Readability in Public Schools

This book explores the issue of student speech in public schools from a student usability perspective. Student speech is both a challenge and an opportunity in public schools. When school boards and districts craft policy, they do so with US Supreme Court precedents, state laws, and community expectations in mind. The result is complex ideas presented in complex speech. What do student handbooks say about free speech, if anything at all? How are these rights defined, and how is the language interpreted? Salkin and Shenkel explore these questions by analyzing a sample of public high school student handbooks from across the country. Drawing from the results, the project proposes real-world suggestions for schools seeking to create student expression handbook language that is easily accessible to the audience it seeks to serve.

Works within the current constitutional framework to help students understand and effectively apply student speech policy Reviews the four major Supreme Court cases involving public school K-12 student speech, lower court interpretations of those precedents, and state laws designed to address student speech Textual analysis together with the focus group discussions gives a clear sense of application for public schools to create more comprehensive and student user-friendly policy language about expression within schools

Autorentext
Erica Salkin is Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Whitworth University, USA. Her research interests include media law, student speech rights, and scholastic journalism.
Logan Shenkel holds a Bachelor's degree in Communications from Whitworth University, USA.

Inhalt
Chapter 1 Introduction.- Chapter 2 The Supreme Court and Student Speech.- Chapter 3 Problems with Policies: The Ongoing Struggle between Legal and Readable.- Chapter 4 Approaching the question.- Chapter 5 Readability by the numbers .- Chapter 6 Student Application.- Chapter 7 Applying these findings to your student speech policy.