Student in public school to engage in freedom of speech by wearing and providing to supporters this sticker. (Courtesy photo)

A federal judge in Atlanta has refused to dismiss a free speech lawsuit brought by a high school freshman and his father after the teen was suspended for having a sticker on his cellphone that called for the ouster of the school principal.

Judge Mark Cohen of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia ruled that he could “reasonably infer” from allegations in a civil suit filed by Chamblee Charter High School freshman Keegan Brooks and his father Russell Brooks that the student was unconstitutionally punished by school administrators because of the viewpoint he expressed.

The sticker, which Keegan Brooks designed, depicted an American flag with principal Rebecca Braaten's school photo and the slogan “Fire Braaten” superimposed.

Cohen's order noted that a public statement issued by the DeKalb County School District said Brooks and several other students who displayed stickers were disciplined “for posting stickers critical of the school's leadership.”

The judge also said that case law on student speech handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in Atlanta gives school administrators “clear notice that on-campus pure student expression that has, or is likely to have no or only a negligible disruptive effect on classroom order or the educational process is protected by the First Amendment.”

If Brooks can prove “that his speech had or was likely to have only a negligible disruptive effect on classroom order and the educational process,” Cohen said that defendants Braaten, assistant principal Clifton Spears, and DeKalb County School superintendent Stephen Green are not entitled to qualified immunity from liability that is frequently afforded to public officials.

The judge said the pending case involves “the delicate balance between students' First Amendment freedom of expression, and the ability of public schools to maintain discipline so that all students can learn and grow—both important constitutional interests implicated when 'educating the young for citizenship.'”

Atlanta civil rights attorney Gerry Weber, who represents Brooks and his father, on Monday called Cohen's 40-page order “a full-throated exploration of all the legal issues.”

“This is a case that is [at] the heart of student free speech,” he continued. “It is a student who is expressing a political opinion in a non-verbal way, with no disruption. And there's no claim that he's anything but respectful in the presentation of his views.”

Weber said Brooks sued after he was suspended and warned that, if he returned to school visibly displaying the offending sticker, he would be suspended a second time. Brooks wants the suspension expunged from his school record, and he wants the district to change its policy governing student speech, which Weber said is not based on the correct legal standard.

A spokesman for the school district said Cohen's ruling is being reviewed and declined to comment further.

Braaten's brief tenure at Chamblee Charter High School was marred by controversy, according to court papers and Cohen's order. Braaten was the subject of a petition calling for her to be fired, and community members complained during several school board meetings about her leadership style and personnel decisions. Braaten was transferred in November 2018 before completing a second year as principal.

Keegan Brooks, whose family signed the petition calling for Braaten to be removed, designed and distributed stickers calling for the principal's firing about a month before her transfer, Cohen's order said. He distributed less than three dozen to students who displayed them on their backpacks, lunchboxes and cellphone cases.

The display prompted Spears to call Brooks to his office where he created a Behavior Detail Report claiming the teen violated school conduct rules governing “disrespectfulness” and “creating a disturbance,” the judge's order said.

Spears later told the teen's father that the disturbance was that “Spears had to spend half of the day tracking down students who possessed the stickers, retrieving the stickers, and punishing them,” the order said. Spears later reduced the suspension to a day. Two other students who sported Brooks' stickers received verbal warnings, the order said.

But a teacher who confiscated one of the stickers and gave it to Braaten told school administrators the students “did not disrupt class or in any way impede learning,” the order said. “They were respectful and removed the sticker when I asked them to, and voluntarily gave it to me.”

In court papers, the school district characterized Brooks' stickers as a “disparaging joke about his school's principal” that was “blatantly hostile toward school leadership and designed to humiliate … Braaten and undermine her authority” and, as such, was not constitutionally protected speech.

The facts alleged in Brooks' complaint “do not show a realistic chance that wearing and distributing at most thirty-six stickers containing Braaten's professional headshot photograph and the words 'Fire Braaten' superimposed on a waving United States flag raised a realistic chance of interfering with [Chamblee Charter High School's] educational mission,” the judge added.