Expert: Michael Troy - 9/15/2006

Question
Can a grade school (k-12) create a "fixed buffer" zone in the student drop off location to ensure the safety of students?
Is it allowable to restrict protesters from a 50 foot long area for 1/2 hour a day.  The area is a loading/unloading zone painted with a yellow curb, is public property and is the only location in which parents can drop off children..

Answer
The law on time, place, and manner restrictions can be a little hard to predict.  Different judges would decide such a case differently, so I cannot give a definitive answer.

What a Judge would look at is the purpose of the restriction, i.e. safety of students and allowing easy access to the school, and would have to be convinced that this is not just a cover for the purpose of preventing speech.  A judge would also consider whether there were alternative ways of getting the message across.  In other words, protesters who could be seen and heard from the drop off point could still make a point.   However, if they wanted to hand out flyers to communicate a more complex message, this  ban might effectively prevent them from doing that.

Given the relatively limited restriction and the ability of the protesters to be heard by parents dropping off kids, I would say most courts would probably find this to be a permissible restriction.

I hope this helps!
- Mike