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STUDENTS LOSE SHIRTS OFF THEIR BACKS FOR INITIATED MEASURE 4

RAPID CITY -- Two Stevens High School seniors who wore T-shirts to school advocating the passage of Initiated Measure 4, the medical marijuana ballot issue, say their rights to political free speech were violated when the school principal confiscated the shirts, which were decorated with the image of a marijuana leaf. 

David Valenzuela, 17, and Chris Fuentes, 18, were told by a Stevens security guard to remove the shirts as they entered their first-period class Oct.  20.  Principal Katie Bray confiscated the shirts a short time later. 

Rapid City superintendent of schools Peter Wharton said Thursday that the incident was a violation of school policy, not political rights. 

School policy forbids clothing that displays images of alcohol, drugs or tobacco products on school grounds.  That policy is clearly communicated to all students, and it is not affected by what issues may or may not be on the ballot in an election year, Wharton said. 

"Unequivocally, no.  It had nothing to do with political speech," he said. 

Students are allowed to wear political T-shirts and other campaign-related items for candidates and issues, as long as they are appropriate, as determined by school administrators, Wharton said.  This fall, numerous Stevens students have worn T-shirts with an image of a human fetus and the message "Save a Life, Vote Yes on Referred Law 6."

"We had been seeing all these abortion shirts at school, and we thought, OK, I guess we can get political," Valenzuela said of his decision to wear the shirt to school. 

Valenzuela's green, tie-dyed shirt features a white, stylized image of a marijuana leaf, along with the hand-lettered message, "Vote Yes on Initiated Measure 4."

The wording is allowed, Wharton said, but the image is not.  Any student is welcome to advocate for the passage of a law legalizing medical marijuana, as long as they don't use drug insignia in the process.  "Advocate to your heart's content, but don't use a marijuana leaf to do it.  It's against school policy."

"We were told that because the marijuana leaf was drug-related, we weren't allowed to wear it," Valenzuela said.  "I think it's very unfair.  We're trying to get our viewpoint out and tell people what it ( Initiated Measure 4 ) is, and we can't.  We're just trying to spread Measure 4."

Valenzuela, who is not old enough to vote, argues that the picture of marijuana should be protected as political speech.  He was campaigning for a ballot issue, not promoting the use of an illegal drug, he said. 

"That's absurd," Wharton said.  "I'm not even going to dignify that argument with a response." A ballot initiative does not change the enforcement or the interpretation of a school dress-code regulation, he said. 

Bray, who returned the shirts at the end of the school day, threatened the students with suspension from school if they wore the shirts to class again, Valenzuela said. 

"We were afraid of being expelled," he said. 

"Then, I would have gotten involved," said Christine Horan, Valenzuela's mother, who supported her son's decision to wear the shirt but made him wear another shirt underneath it, just in case. 

"I see it as an issue of free speech.  If students are allowed to wear clothing promoting one ballot issue, then all ballot issues should be allowed on shirts," Horan said. 

Valenzuela and Fuentes say they will take Wharton up on his invitation to continue their medical marijuana T-shirt campaign, sans image, in the days leading up to Tuesday's election.