No. 20-255 IN THE Supreme Court of the United States MAHANOY AREA SCHOOL DISTRICT, Petitioner, v. B.L., A MINOR, BY AND THROUGH HER FATHER LAWRENCE LEVY AND HER MOTHER BETTY LOU LEVY, Respondents. On Writ of Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit BRIEF OF SCHOOL DISCIPLINE PROFESSORS AS AMICI CURIAE IN SUPPORT OF RESPONDENTS GABRIEL ROTTMAN RICHARD W. MARK JENNIFER A. NELSON Counsel of Record IAN C. KALISH ANNE CHAMPION THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA LEE R. CRAIN SCHOOL OF LAW AMANDA L. LESAVAGE FIRST AMENDMENT CLINIC GIBSON, DUNN & CRUTCHER LLP 580 Massie Road 200 Park Avenue Charlottesville, VA 22903 New York, NY 10166 (434) 924-7354 (212) 351-3818 [email protected] Counsel for Amici Curiae i TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTEREST OF AMICI CURIAE ................................ 1 INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY OF ARGUMENT ......................................................... 1 ARGUMENT ............................................................... 5 I. Punitive Approaches To Bullying Are Ineffective And Harmful To Students. .......... 5 A. Punishment-Based Policies Do Not Alleviate Bullying or Harassment in Schools. ................................................. 5 B. Punishing Students For Speech Actively Harms Their Educational Experiences and Long-Term Prospects. ....................... 9 1. Zero-Tolerance Systems Adversely Affect Students’ Educational Experiences and Make Children More Likely to Struggle Long Term. ........ 10 2. Using Exclusionary Anti-Bullying Policies Disproportionately Harms Students of Color. ............................ 15 II. SCHOOLS CAN ADDRESS BULLYING THROUGH OTHER, MORE EFFECTIVE METHODS THAT DO NOT INFRINGE ON STUDENT EXPRESSION. .......................... 20 A. Universal Preventive Approaches ......... 23 B. Selective and Indicated Preventive Approaches ............................................. 26 CONCLUSION .......................................................... 30 APPENDIX ................................................................ 1a ii TABLE OF AUTHORITIES Page(s) Cases A.M. v. Holmes, 830 F.3d 1123 (10th Cir. 2016) ........................... 14 B.L. v. Mahanoy Area Sch. Dist., 964 F.3d 170 (3d Cir. 2020) ............................. 2, 17 Hawker v. Sandy City Corp., 774 F.3d 1243 (10th Cir. 2014) ........................... 12 Ratner v. Loudoun Cty. Pub. Sch., 16 F. App’x 140 (4th Cir. 2001) ............................ 5 E.W. ex rel. T.W. v. Dolgos, 884 F.3d 172 (4th Cir. 2018) .................................. 8 Tinker v. Des Moines Indep. Cmty. Sch. Dist., 393 U.S. 503 (1969) ........................................ 1, 2, 4 United States v. Playboy Entm’t Grp., Inc., 529 U.S. 803 (2000) ................................................ 4 Statutes 20 U.S.C. § 6311 (2018) ............................................. 21 20 U.S.C. § 6312 (2018) ............................................. 21 iii Other Authorities Kathleen P. Allen, A Bullying Intervention System: Reducing Risk and Creating Support for Aggressive Students, 54 Preventing Sch. Failure 199 (2010) ..................... 29 Am. Psychological Ass’n, Are Zero Tolerance Policies Effective in the Schools? (2008), https://www.apa.org/pubs/info/ reports/zero-tolerance-report.pdf ................ 7, 8, 11 Kaitlin P. Anderson & Gary W. Ritter, Disparate Use of Exclusionary Discipline: Evidence on Inequities in School Discipline from a U.S. State, Educ. Pol’y Analysis Archives, May 22, 2017 ........................................ 17 Yolanda Anyon et al., Restorative Interventions and School Discipline Sanctions in a Large Urban School District, 53 Am. Educ. Res. J. 1663 (2016).... 27, 28 Emily Arcia, Achievement and Enrollment Status of Suspended Students: Outcomes in a Large, Multicultural School District, 38 Educ. & Urb. Soc’y 359 (2006) ........................ 12 Mariella Arredondo et al., Documenting Disparities for LGBTQ Students: Expanding the Collection and Reporting of Data on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, Discipline Disparities, Mar. 2016 ........ 18 iv Andrew Bacher-Hicks et al., The School to Prison Pipeline: Long-Run Impacts of School Suspensions on Adult Crime (Nat’l Bureau of Econ. Research, Working Paper No. 26257, 2019), https://www.nber.org/system/files/working _papers/w26257/w26257.pdf .......................... 13, 15 Eoin Bastable et al., Do High Schools Implementing SWPBIS Have Lower Rates of Illegal Drug and Alcohol Use? (2015) .............. 24 Derek W. Black, The Constitutional Limit of Zero Tolerance in Schools, 99 Minn. L. Rev. 823 (2015)............................... 5, 6 Brief for the United States as Amicus Curiae Supporting Petitioner, Mahanoy Area Sch. Dist. v. B.L., No. 20–255 (U.S. Mar. 1, 2021) ........ 2 Kristie Cattafi, Edgewater School Called Police After Sixth-Grader Had Nerf Gun During Zoom Class (Sept. 11, 2020), https://www.northjersey.com/story/ news/bergen/edgewater/2020/09/11/edgewater-nj- police-called-after-student-had-nerf-gun-during- zoom-class/3468499001/ ......................................... 6 Children’s Defense Fund, School Suspensions: Are They Helping Children? (1975) ..................... 16 Civil Rights Div., U.S. Dep’t of Justice, and Office for Civil Rights, U.S. Dep’t of Educ., Dear Colleague Letter: Nondiscriminatory Administration of School Discipline (Jan. 8, 2014) ........................... 21 v Civil Rights Div., U.S. Dep’t of Justice, and Office for Civil Rights, U.S. Dep’t of Educ., Dear Colleague Letter: Withdrawing Dear Colleague Letter on Nondiscriminatory Administration of School Discipline (Dec. 21, 2018) .................................... 21 Coping Power Program, Youth.gov, https://youth.gov/content/coping-power- program .......................................................... 28, 29 Alison E. Cuellar & Sara Markowitz, School Suspension and the School-to-Prison Pipeline, 43 Int’l Rev. L. & Econ. 98 (2015) ............ 7, 13, 19 F. Chris Curran, Estimating the Effect of State Zero Tolerance Laws on Exclusionary Discipline, Racial Discipline Gaps, and Student Behavior, 38 Educ. Evaluation & Pol’y Analysis 647 (2016) ................ 6 Tim Elfrink, A Teacher Saw a BB Gun in a 9-Year- Old’s Room During Online Class. He Faces Expulsion., Wash. Post (Sept. 25, 2020), https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/09/ 25/louisiana-student-bbgun-expulsion/ ................. 6 Facts About Bullying, StopBullying.gov, https://www.stopbullying.gov/resources/facts ....... 7 Karin S. Frey et al., Observed Reductions in School Bullying, Nonbullying Aggression and Destructive Bystander Behavior: A Longitudinal Evaluation, 101 J. Educ. Psychol. 466 (2009) ..... 26 vi Chris P. Good et al., Integrating Bullying Prevention into Schoolwide Positive Behavior Support, 44 Teaching Exceptional Children 48 (2011) ........... 25 Kristen Harper et al., Black Students and Students with Disabilities Remain More Likely to Receive Out-of-School Suspensions, Despite Overall Declines, Child Trends (Apr. 29, 2019), https://www.childtrends.org/publications/black -students-disabilities-out-of-school- suspensions .......................................................... 22 Paul Hemez et al., Exploring the School-to-Prison Pipeline: How School Suspensions Influence Incarceration During Young Adulthood, 18 Youth Violence & Juv. Just. 235 (2020) ......................... 14 Sheryl A. Hemphill et al., The Effect of School Suspensions and Arrests on Subsequent Adolescent Antisocial Behavior in Australia and the United States, 39 J. Adolescent Health 736 (2006)............................................... 8, 9 Sheryl A. Hemphill et al., Protective Factors Against the Impact of School Bullying Perpetration and Victimization on Young Adult Externalizing and Internalizing Problems, 13 J. Sch. Violence 125 (2014) ............ 29 Lynda Hils, “Zero Tolerance” for Free Speech, 30 J.L. & Educ. 365 (2001) .................................... 6 Stephen Hoffman, Zero Benefit: Estimating the Effect of Zero Tolerance Discipline, 28 Educ. Pol’y 69 (2014) ................................. 17, 19 vii Francis L. Huang & Dewey G. Cornell, Teacher Support for Zero Tolerance Is Associated With Higher Suspension Rates and Lower Feelings of Safety, Sch. Psychol. Rev. (forthcoming 2021) ..... 7 JustChildren & Dewey Cornell, Prevention v. Punishment: Threat Assessments, School Suspensions, and Racial Disparities (2013) ...... 29 Aaron Kupchik, The Real School Safety Problem (2016) ..................................................... 10 Johanna Lacoe & Matthew P. Steinberg, Do Suspensions Affect Student Outcomes?, 41 Educ. Eval. Pol’y Analysis 34 (2019) ................... 19 Jeffrey H. Lamont et al., Out-of-School Suspension and Expulsion, 131 Pediatrics e1000 (2013) ......... 9 Talisha Lee et al., High Suspension Schools and Dropout Rates for Black and White Students, 34 Educ. & Treatment Child. 167 (2011) ................. 12 Timothy J. Lewis et al., Schoolwide Systems of Positive Behavior Support: Implications for Students at Risk and With Emotional/Behavioral Disorders, AERA Open, Apr.–June 2017 ............ 24 John E. Lochman et al., Three Year Follow- Up of Coping Power Intervention Effects: Evidence of Neighborhood Moderation?, 14 Prevention Sci. 364 (2012) .............................. 29 viii Frank D. LoMonte, Zero Tolerance for Online Bullying Can Hamper Free Speech, Am. Bar Ass’n (Sept. 28, 2012), https://www.americanbar.org/groups/litiga tion/committees/childrens- rights/articles/2012/zero-tolerance-online- bullying-can-hamper-free-speech .........................