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Valerie Alvizo

EDU 210 Nevada School Law Summer 2016

College of Southern Nevada

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Bethel School District No. 403 v. Fraser

This case addresses the situation of respondent Matthew Fraser a student at Bethel High

School in Pierce County, Washington. He delivered a speech on April 26 1983 to an audience of

approximately 600 high school students during an assembly to elect the student government

officials. His speech was to promote a fellow classmate that was running for office. The speech

given included obscene and vulgar language, as well as referencing towards sexually explicit

material. Fraser had presented his speech prior to the assembly to a few teachers, whom all

agreed that he should not give the speech due to the nature of its content. Fraser, after presenting

his speech at the assembly, was suspended for 3 days.

Fraser and his father first took the Bethel School District to the United States District

Court on the claim that suspending him for giving his speech was violating his right of freedom

of speech under the first amendment. After going to court, the decision was made that he was

unfairly punished for expressing his opinion and the Bethel School district was to pay him for

damages, litigations and attorney fees. The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the

judgment of the District Court.

The Bethel School District then took the case to court again this time the Bethel School

District appealing the Ninth Circuit ruling that they were not violating his freedom of speech

rights, but that Fraser was going against their rules of obscenity and vulgar language being a

disruption in education and inappropriate for the audience of mostly minors. This court reversed

the judgment of the Court of Appeals of the Ninth Circuit.

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Education Clauses of the Nevada State Constitution

Article 11 Education

Section 1. Legislature to encourage education. The legislature shall encourage by all

suitable means the promotion of intellectual, literary, scientific, mining, mechanical, agricultural

and moral improvements. This section stood out to me because I am a huge advocate of

education, I love to learn and teach and I find it very important that the government and state is

required to encourage education for all. It is important that they encourage education in all areas

of study, especially here in the state of Nevada. Yes, the hospitality industry is huge and a major

component to the economy of the state and especially to Las Vegas, but there are so many other

fields and occupations that are currently advancing and growing, it would be disrespectful to not

teach and allow our students to learn about them. I encourage lifelong learning as well and

having distant learning options is a huge plus. With all the people in our state maximizing their

learning the growth of the city and the state will only increase.

Section 5. Establishment of normal schools and grades of schools; oath of teachers and

professors. The Legislature shall have power to establish Normal schools and such different

grades of schools from the primary department to the university, as in their discretion they may

deem necessary and all professors in said university or teachers in said schools of whatever

grade, shall be required to take and subscribe to the oath as prescribed in Article Fifteenth of this

constitution. No Professor or Teacher who fails to comply with the provisions of any law framed

in accordance with the provisions of this section shall be entitled to receive any portion of the

public monies set apart for schools. This section is important to me as we need to have

established schools, both grade schools as well as higher learning universities and colleges to

help our state grow. They need to readily available and open to all who want to attend. The Oath
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is an important part of being a teacher as we are held to a certain standard of rules and

regulations and we should behave as such. I feel that many teachers forget this oath and therefore

lack that pride and prestige that should come when given the title of educator and therefore give

the profession a bad representation and thus educators receive such little respect. I want to be

able to serve to this constitution respectfully and proudly and bring that respect back to education

and the profession of being an educator.

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References
Bethel School District No. 403 v. Fraser, a minor, 84-1667 (Supreme Court of United States
March 3, 1986).