Section 48907 Of Article 1. Suspension Or Expulsion From California Education Code >> Division 4. >> Title 2. >> Part 27. >> Chapter 6. >> Article 1.
48907
. (a) Pupils of the public schools, including charter schools,
shall have the right to exercise freedom of speech and of the press
including, but not limited to, the use of bulletin boards, the
distribution of printed materials or petitions, the wearing of
buttons, badges, and other insignia, and the right of expression in
official publications, whether or not the publications or other means
of expression are supported financially by the school or by use of
school facilities, except that expression shall be prohibited which
is obscene, libelous, or slanderous. Also prohibited shall be
material that so incites pupils as to create a clear and present
danger of the commission of unlawful acts on school premises or the
violation of lawful school regulations, or the substantial disruption
of the orderly operation of the school.
(b) The governing board or body of each school district or charter
school and each county board of education shall adopt rules and
regulations in the form of a written publications code, which shall
include reasonable provisions for the time, place, and manner of
conducting such activities within its respective jurisdiction.
(c) Pupil editors of official school publications shall be
responsible for assigning and editing the news, editorial, and
feature content of their publications subject to the limitations of
this section. However, it shall be the responsibility of a journalism
adviser or advisers of pupil publications within each school to
supervise the production of the pupil staff, to maintain professional
standards of English and journalism, and to maintain the provisions
of this section.
(d) There shall be no prior restraint of material prepared for
official school publications except insofar as it violates this
section. School officials shall have the burden of showing
justification without undue delay prior to a limitation of pupil
expression under this section.
(e) "Official school publications" refers to material produced by
pupils in the journalism, newspaper, yearbook, or writing classes and
distributed to the student body either free or for a fee.
(f) This section does not prohibit or prevent the governing board
or body of a school district or charter school from adopting
otherwise valid rules and regulations relating to oral communication
by pupils upon the premises of each school.
(g) An employee shall not be dismissed, suspended, disciplined,
reassigned, transferred, or otherwise retaliated against solely for
acting to protect a pupil engaged in the conduct authorized under
this section, or refusing to infringe upon conduct that is protected
by this section, the First Amendment to the United States
Constitution, or Section 2 of Article I of the California
Constitution.