280.22 Student exercise of free expression.
1. Except as limited by this section, students of the public schools have the right to exercise freedom of speech, including the right of expression in official school publications.
2. Students shall not express, publish, or distribute any of the following:
a. Materials which are obscene.
b. Materials which are libelous or slanderous under chapter 659.
c. Materials which encourage students to do any of the following:
(1) Commit unlawful acts.
(2) Violate lawful school regulations.
(3) Cause the material and substantial disruption of the orderly operation of the school.
3. There shall be no prior restraint of material prepared for official school publications except when the material violates this section.
4. Each board of directors of a public school shall adopt rules in the form of a written publications code, which shall include reasonable provisions for the time, place, and manner of conducting such activities within its jurisdiction. The code shall incorporate all of the provisions of this section. The board shall make the code available to the students and their parents.
5. Student editors of official school publications shall assign and edit the news, editorial, and feature content of their publications subject to the limitations of this section. Journalism advisers of students producing official school publications shall supervise the production of the student staff in order to maintain professional standards of English and journalism and to comply with this section.
6. Any expression made by students in the exercise of free speech, including student expression in official school publications, shall not be deemed to be an expression of school policy, and the public school district and school employees or officials shall not be liable in any civil or criminal action for any student expression made or published by students, unless the school employees or officials have interfered with or altered the content of the student speech or expression, and then only to the extent of the interference or alteration of the speech or expression.
7. A public school employee or official, acting within the scope of the person’s professional ethics, if any, shall not be dismissed, suspended, disciplined, reassigned, transferred, subject to termination or nonrenewal of a teaching contract issued under section 279.13 or an extracurricular contract issued under section 279.19A, or otherwise retaliated against for acting to protect a student for engaging in conduct authorized under this section, or refusing to infringe upon student conduct that is protected by this section, the first amendment to the Constitution of the United States, or
Article I, section 7, of the Constitution of the State of Iowa
.
8. “Official school publications” means material produced by students in the journalism, newspaper, yearbook, or writing classes and distributed to the student body either free or for a fee.
9. This section does not prohibit a board of directors of a public school from adopting otherwise valid rules relating to oral communications by students upon the premises of each school.
89 Acts, ch 155, §1; 2021 Acts, ch 130, §6, 7
Referred to in §279.58
Subsections 4 and 5 amended
NEW subsection 7 and former subsections 7 and 8 renumbered as 8 and 9
Structure Iowa Code
Title VII - EDUCATION AND CULTURAL AFFAIRS
Chapter 280 - UNIFORM SCHOOL REQUIREMENTS
Section 280.3 - Educational program — attendance center requirements.
Section 280.3A - Accredited nonpublic school child care programs.
Section 280.4 - Limited English proficiency — weighting.
Section 280.5 - Display of United States flag and Iowa state flag — pledge of allegiance.
Section 280.6 - Religious books.
Section 280.7 - Dental clinics.
Section 280.7A - Student eye care.
Section 280.8 - Special education.
Section 280.9 - Career education.
Section 280.9A - History and government required — voter registration.
Section 280.9B - Violence prevention curriculum.
Section 280.10 - Eye-protective devices.
Section 280.11 - Ear-protective devices.
Section 280.12 - School improvement advisory committee.
Section 280.13 - Requirements for interscholastic athletic contests and competitions.
Section 280.13A - Sharing interscholastic activities.
Section 280.13B - Recording and broadcast fees restricted.
Section 280.13C - Concussion and brain injury policies.
Section 280.14 - School requirements — administration.
Section 280.15 - Joint employment and sharing.
Section 280.16A - Epinephrine auto-injector supply.
Section 280.17 - Procedures for handling child abuse reports.
Section 280.17A - Procedures for handling dangerous weapons.
Section 280.17B - Students suspended or expelled for possession of dangerous weapons.
Section 280.18 - Student achievement goals.
Section 280.19 - Plans for at-risk children.
Section 280.19A - Alternative options education programs — disclosure of records.
Section 280.20 - Career and technical agriculture education.
Section 280.21 - Corporal punishment — burden of proof.
Section 280.21A - Leave — episode of violence.
Section 280.21B - Expulsion — weapons in school.
Section 280.22 - Student exercise of free expression.
Section 280.23 - Student health services.
Section 280.24 - Procedures for reporting drug or alcohol possession or use.
Section 280.25 - Information sharing — interagency agreements.
Section 280.26 - Intervention in altercations.
Section 280.27 - Reporting violence — immunity.
Section 280.28 - Harassment and bullying prohibited — policy — immunity.
Section 280.30 - High-quality school building emergency operations plans.