Can I get in trouble for making fun of my teacher in a YouTube video?

Some Backstory: Tinker v. Des Moines

Tinker was a Supreme Court case decided in 1965 and was the first time the Supreme Court really looked at student speech. In the case, two students were suspended for wearing armbands that protested the Vietnam war. The Supreme Court said:

If a student’s conduct or speech materially disrupts the learning environment or invades the rights of other students, it is not protected by the First Amendment and can be censored by the school.

This case set some important ground rules for student speech, but since it was decided way back in the 60s, the Supreme Court definitely wasn’t considering social media. Even today, courts are struggling with how much control schools have over students’ social media, like in the case of Bell v. Itawamba…

What Happened in Bell v. Itawamba

In 2015, a high school student in Mississippi named Taylor Bell got suspended for posting on Facebook a few YouTube videos of Bell rapping under the name T-Bizzle. In Bell’s songs, he called out two coaches at his high school, saying they were sexually harassing female students. Wanting to bring light to the problem, Bell shared the videos on Facebook, wanting to expose the coaches for their alleged harassment.

The videos caused some buzz around the school, to say the least. Once the two coaches heard the lyrics to the videos, they changed their teaching styles and avoided female students. Other students started spending more time in the gym, even when their teachers told them not to. Bell’s lyrics were pretty violent at times, and one of the coaches testified that he was afraid of Bell after hearing his song. Here are some of the lyrics Bell directed at the two coaches:

“[Coach Rainey is] a fool, 30 years old f****ing with students at the school”
“Run up on T-Bizzle / I’m going to hit you with my Ruger”
“you’ve f****ed with the wrong one / going to get a pistol down your mouth / POW”

Bell’s lyrics got him suspended and placed in alternative school for six weeks. He sued the school, saying his speech was protected by the First Amendment. Here’s what the court thought:

The court asked these questions to decide if Bell’s speech was harassment or bullying:

1. Was the speech intended to reach the school?

• YES. Bell testified that he expected other students would see the video on Facebook and listen to his lyrics. He also testified that he intentionally posted the video on Facebook because he wanted to expose the coaches.  

• YES. The lyrics were threatening to the coaches. The videos described putting a gun in someone’s mouth and pulling the trigger and it’s reasonable that the coaches would feel threatened.
  

3. Is it likely that the speech would cause a substantial disruption at school?

• YES. The speech disrupted classwork, it changed the way the coaches interacted with students, and it caused disorder in the school.
  

Because the court answered YES to all 3 questions, the lyrics were bullying/harassment speech and the school had the right to suspend Bell and place him in alternative school for almost two months.

Moral of the Story

Bell v. Itawamba shows that courts have been giving schools more power to punish students for what they post on social media. Even speech created after school, at your own house, and on your own phone/computer could get you in trouble. At the very least, Taylor Bell’s story should make you think twice before you post something that makes fun of someone else, especially your teacher or another student. This doesn’t mean you can’t criticize your teachers or your school, but you have to express yourself appropriately. In some situations, profanity might even be okay, but you definitely can’t threaten or disrupt the school environment.