This is the back of the shirt worn by Donald Miller III. A federal court said Penn Manor could prohibi
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Pointing to Nickel Mines, Columbine and Virginia Tech, a federal judge said Penn Manor School District acted properly when it prohibited a student from wearing a T-shirt with the image of guns on it.
"The impact of violence is so great that it now has equal importance as the issue of illegal drug use in schools," U.S. District Judge James Knoll Gardner wrote in an opinion handed down this week.
"There is nowhere that is truly safe or immune from the problem of school violence, from the one-room schoolhouse to America's largest universities," Gardner said.
"Students," he said, "have no constitutional right to promote violence in our public schools."
The parents of Donald Miller III had sued Penn Manor in federal court, alleging the school district violated their son's free speech rights by telling him last year that he could not wear the shirt, a gift from his uncle who is serving in Iraq.
Penn Manor Superintendent Donald Stewart said today that the judge's ruling "affirms that the playing field for schools has altered. Schools need to be supported in their efforts to curb violence."
Neither the Millers, nor their attorney, Leonard G. Brown III, could be reached for comment early today.
At issue in the case was Donald Miller III's black T-shirt, which has two guns printed on it. One is on a front pocket printed with the words: "Volunteer, Homeland Security."
The other gun is on the back, superimposed with these words: "Special Issue — Resident — Lifetime License — United States Terrorist Hunting Permit — Permit 91101 Gun Owner — No Bag Limit."
Miller's parents, Tina and Donald Miller Jr. of Holtwood, said the shirt showed their family's support for the troops in Iraq.
In a meeting with Assistant Principal Christopher Moritzen, Miller's father slammed the address of a soldier serving in Iraq on Moritzen's desk, according to the judge's recitation of the facts in the case.
Miller's father suggested Moritzen could write to the soldier and explain how Moritzen "was not being supportive of the troops in Iraq by not allowing Donald to wear his T-shirt to school," the judge wrote.
However, Gardner said the message on the T-shirt is violent, not patriotic.
"The language on Donald's T-shirt advocates the use of force, violence and violation of law in the form of illegal vigilante behavior and the hunting and killing of human beings," Gardner wrote.
While acknowledging that Miller's shirt means a great deal to him because it came from his uncle, there is no patriotic sentiment on the shirt, the judge said.
In most settings, the First Amendment would protect speech, even speech that presents a threat of violence, the judge noted.
But a school is a special place, he said.
Citing another court decision, he wrote: "School officials must have greater authority to intervene before speech leads to violence."
The judge also ruled on two other district matters: one a Penn Manor policy, the other a statement of expectations in the student handbook. The judge banned the district from enforcing either, saying both were vague and overreaching.
The policy prohibited expressions that "seek to establish the supremacy of a particular religious denomination, sect or point of view." Penn Manor removed that from its policy earlier this year.
The statement, in the principal's message section of the student handbook, banned dress or expression that "is a distraction to the educational environment." That section of the handbook has been removed.
According to the opinion, Miller, now 15 and a sophomore, wore the gun T-shirt three times to school when he was a freshman.
The first time, he was told it was inappropriate. The second time, he was warned he would be sent to the principal's office if he wore it again. The third time, he was sent to the principal's office.
Miller told Moritzen his parents would "freak out" if he was not allowed to wear the shirt to school. When Moritzen told him to go to the restroom and turn the shirt inside out, Miller stood up and walked out the door, using an obscenity to describe his feelings about the situation.
Moritzen gave Miller a two-hour detention for the foul language and for not following direction.
Staff writer Cindy Stauffer can be reached at cstauffer@LNPnews.com or 481-6024.
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