Virginia

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled in 2003 against a dress code prohibiting students from wearing clothing that depicts weapons.  The court said that school officials at Jack Jouett Middle School in Albemarle County had violated the First Amendment rights of a 13-year-old student when they told him to turn his T-shirt for the "NRA Sports Shooting Camp" inside out.  The court said the school district had failed to show shirts depicting weapons caused material disruption.  The National Rifle Association had filed the lawsuit on behalf of the student.

ZERO TOLERANCE
In 2002, the US Supreme Court decided not to hear a case from Virginia involving "zero tolerance" discipline.  An eighth grade student had removed a knife from a suicidal classmate and put it inside a binder in his own locker.  He was suspended in February 2000 on grounds that his possession of a knife on school grounds violated the school's zero tolerance policy for weapons and illegal substances.   Two lower federal courts upheld the school's action in suspending the student. School officials said the student should have turned the knife over to them instead of putting it in his locker.  By declining to hear the appeal, the Supreme Court let stand these lower court rulings. 

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
A federal district court judge decided in the early 1990s that school authorities at Blair Middle School in Norfolk did not infringe no the rights of a 12-year-old when they ordered her to take off a T-shirt that read "Drugs suck!"  The judge said the word "suck" could be considered offensive, vulgar and disruptive n a middle school. 

PERSONAL APPEARANCE - HAIR
After the ACLU intervened, Norview Middle School in Norfolk Virginia permitted sixth grader Jesse Doyle to return to class with blue hair.  He had been told he could not come back until his hair was its original color.

SEARCHES
An out-of-court settlement was reached in the late 1990s after between 50 and 60 boys were strip searched at William Monroe High School in Charlottesville in an effort to find $100 that went missing during a gym class.  The money was not found.  The lawsuit had sought $20,000 in damages for each student.