Doe v. Hopkinton Public Schools, No. 20-1950 (1st Cir. 2021)
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The First Circuit affirmed the judgment of the district court rejecting the claims of Plaintiffs John Doe and Ben Bloggs that their high school discipline was unconstitutional, holding that the district court properly entered judgment in favor of Hopkinton Public Schools on all counts.
Following an investigation, Hopkinton High School determined that eight students on the school hockey team, including Plaintiffs, had bullied their fellow hockey team member, and suspended each hockey player for a number of days. In this appeal from the dismissal of their complaint, Plaintiffs argued that the discipline violated their First Amendment rights, the "emotional harm" prong of Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 71, 370 is unconstitutional, and that the punishment violated their student speech rights under Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 71, 82. The First Circuit affirmed the dismissal of the complaint, holding (1) the school did not violate Plaintiffs' First Amendment rights; (2) Plaintiffs' challenges to the "emotional harm" prong of the Massachusetts statute and school policy were moot; and (3) the school did not violate Plaintiffs' rights under the Massachusetts student speech statute.
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