Source: The Associated Press
http://www.freedomforum.org/templates/document.asp?documentID=17417
On January 3, 2003 The Associated Press reported that "seven Westfield High School [MA] students are fighting the suspensions they received for passing out candy canes and religious messages to classmates before Christmas, their lawyer said yesterday... Erik Stanley, a lawyer for the Orlando, Fla.-based Liberty Counsel, said the high school principal gave the students in-school suspensions yesterday. School Superintendent Thomas McDowell then granted a stay of the suspensions at the parents' request, Stanley said... The students say their rights to free speech and expression were violated when they were told not to deliver the candies and attachments... But McDowell has said the students were told not to hand out the packages because school rules prohibit the distribution of anything that's unrelated to school activities or curriculum."