Virginia School Board Beats Parents’ Push to Halt Speech Policy

A Virginia school board may continue blocking speakers from publicly commenting about individual students during its open meetings, a federal appeals court said Monday.

The Loudoun County, Va., board’s facially constitutional policy of forbidding speakers from targeting, criticizing, or attacking particular students at meetings didn’t violate the plaintiff speakers’ free speech rights under the First Amendment, the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit said. The court affirmed an order denying the plaintiffs’ request to preclude the board from enforcing the policy as it applied to parents who criticized its handling of a school safety concern involving a ...