High School Sued After Suspending Student For Posting Memes About Principal

A watchdog group sued a public high school in Tennessee Wednesday on behalf of a 17-year-old student after school administrators suspended him for posting memes about the principal.

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), a First Amendment advocacy group, filed a lawsuit on behalf of a rising senior at Tullahoma High School alleging that the school suspended him for posting satirical images on Instagram that criticized the principal’s “overly serious” behavior. The lawsuit alleges that the school violated the student’s First Amendment rights by suspending him for a social media post that happened outside of the school.

“This case is about a thin-skinned high school principal defying the First Amendment and suspending a student for lampooning the principal on the student’s Instagram page even though the posts caused no disruption at school,” the lawsuit states.