Bell v. Itawamba County School Board
United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
799 F.3d 379 (2015)
Taylor Bell (plaintiff), a high school senior, posted a rap recording off-campus and without school resources on Facebook containing language threatening two coaches and accusing them of misconduct with female students, and later finalized and posted it on YouTube. Bell admitted to the school disciplinary committee that he intended the recording to reach the school community to expose the coaches' alleged misconduct. The committee found the recording amounted to harassment and intimidation and suspended him. Bell and his mother (plaintiffs) sued the Itawamba County School Board (defendant), claiming the suspension violated his free-speech rights. The trial court granted summary judgment for the school board; a divided appellate panel reversed, and the court granted en banc review.
Whether the First Amendment protects off-campus student speech containing language threatening a teacher when the student intended the speech to reach, and school officials reasonably understood it as threatening, the school community.