Know your rights: what LAHS students can(not) do

Freedom of Expression

You have the right to:

Refuse to say the Pledge of Allegiance or salute the flag

Miss school for a religious holiday without being punished

Express your political views while in school, including wearing buttons, handing out leaflets and distributing petitions unless they are disruptive or vulgar

School officials may punish students, however, if they “materially and substantially interfere with the requirements of appropriate discipline in the operation of the school”

Police on school campus

You have the right to:

Be taken to a semi-private location to be arrested, if possible, instead of in the classroom

Police off school campus

Police are held to higher standards than school officials because they are not responsible for maintaining a learning environment

You have the right to:

Have your parent or guardian notified before the police question you about a school-related crime. That parent or guardian may deny permission to question you

Libel and Slander

Defamation is a statement that harms (as opposed to just insulting or offending) the reputation of another person

In order to be classified as defamation, a statement must have been published to other people and must clearly be referring to the subject

If the value of communicating a statement outweighs the value of protecting a person’s reputation, the defamatory statement is said to be protected by privilege

You have the right to:

Make a defamatory statement about someone else as long as it is true

Curfew

You do not have the right to:

Loiter or be out in Los Altos without a specific purpose between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. any day of the week until you are 18

Sex

Statutory rape is unlawful sexual intercourse between a minor and an adult

Penalties for statutory rape increase if the minor is more than three years younger than the perpetrator

You do not have the right to:

“Consent” to sex until reaching the age of 18. This means even if both people want to have sex but 1 person is under 18 it still qualifies as statutory rape. Sex between two minors is illegal