In K.A. v. Pocono Mountain School District, 710 F.3d 99 (3d Cir. 2013), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit decided, as a matter of first impression, that the advertising material of third parties constitutes "student speech," if distributed by a student in the public school. This decision is significant: Without the intervention of a student, third-party material would be regulated under a First Amendment forum analysis, allowing the district more discretion to exclude nonschool material from the schoolhouse.
However, because the Third Circuit dubbed third-party material brought to school by a student "student speech," the "substantial disruption" standard applies when nonschool materials are distributed by a student. This article explains the significance of the K.A. holding.
