Supreme Court case: HS Student flag;"Bong Hits 4 Jesus"

Wisconsin State Journal Sunday 3/25/07. Forum Section. " First Amendment Case sparks unexpected alliances." (ACLU and Center for Individual Rights) http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/forum/index.php?ntid=125702&ntpid=1 On 1/24/02, a HS student in Juneau, AK was dismissed (as was the entire school) from HS specifically to attend a rally Honoring the Olympic torch passing the HS. Joeseph Frederick made a huge flag and waved it during the parade past the school that said, "BONG HITS 4 JESUS". A teacher and the principal took away the flag, the kid sued and it has gone all the way to the Supreme Court. This is my response which was published on Sunday April first. The issue of free speech will turn out to be a tertiary consideration when the court decides. The primary ones, “were the students still in school" under the custodial/educational care, control of the teachers and administration, and “did the ‘Bong’ flag disrupt learning?” will be the deciding issues. Based on what Romero/Pell wrote, (in the Wis. St Jrnal article) students were dismissed from regular classes solely to attend a rally for the Olympic Torch parade the school had deemed to be their educational experience for that day. The school still had custody of the students during the parade, its message and theme fully school supported. Had the rally been inside the school the "Bong hits for Jesus" flag would have been confiscated since it obviously would "disrupt the message, theme" (from an earlier Supreme Court ruling) the school was teaching that day. The fact that it was across the street from the school is irrelevant. The school was still in charge of the students and the “Bong” flag clearly disrupted learning. If a student wore a shirt or brought a flag to a school sponsored learning activity that said, “Allah smokes Hash” or “Budda hits the Bong” would the reaction be any different?