Separate defenses undertook to justify the regulation by reference to its content, to the circumstances at Columbia High School at the time it was promulgated, and to the obligation of the local Board to 'care for as well as educate' children during school hours.At a hearing conducted in the Department of Education it was revealed that the original regulation grew out of two incidents involving students distributing literature on school grounds.
While admitting that the student petitioners were suspended from classes, it denied that the distribution of leaflets and pamphlets was protected by any constitutional right of free speech. and, with regard to the chilling effect of the said regulation, on behalf of all students at Columbia High School.' 3 Petitioners.307 sought (a) a declaration that the regulation was void, (b) revocation of the suspensions, and (c) a stay of enforcement of the regulation and of the suspensions until final disposition of the petition.The local Board filed an answer denying that it promulgated the regulation but conceding that the regulation was adopted by the high school principal. Relief was sought not only for petitioners but also 'in behalf of the entire class of Columbia High School students suspended on March Twenty-Seventh, 1969.
Petitioner's appeal to this Court is based upon a substantial constitutional issue, R.Īmsden, for distributing leaflets and pamphlets contrary to the regulation.2 Petitioners claimed they were told the students would be reinstated 'only if they would promise not to again thus avail themselves of their said right' to distribute literature. The Commissioner of Education approved the regulation and the State Board of Education affirmed that determination.Petitioner Oxfeld appealed, and the Appellate Division affirmed unanimously in an unreported opinion which observed that 'the present appeal may be moot, since it is questionable whether it asserts a justiciable claim for relief.' Nevertheless the case was there disposed of on the merits by an affirmance for the reasons given by the tribunals which had heard the case below. It puts in question the validity of a literature-distribution regulation or 'guidelines' promulgated at Columbia High School, within the jurisdiction of the Board of Education of South Orange-Maplewood. However, the Supreme.303 Court did not reach the merits of the case, but rather determined that the matter had become moot.This case presents substantially the same issues on federal and state constitutional grounds.
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