A federal judge ruled this week that Penn Manor School District acted properly when it prohibited a student from wearing a T-shirt with images of guns on it.

But the judge ordered the district to strike from its policies restrictions on student expression and dress he deemed "unconstitutionally overbroad and vague."

Citing the fatal school shootings at Nickel Mines, Columbine and Virginia Tech, U.S. District Judge James Knoll Gardner said that students "have no constitutional right to promote violence in our public schools."

Len Brown, the attorney representing the student, praised Gardner for striking down the school district's policies on expression but said he "got it wrong" on the T-shirt.

The court case was prompted by the district's disciplining last year of Donald Miller III, 15.

Donald wore a black T-shirt to school with two gun images printed on it. One, on a front pocket, is overprinted with the words "Volunteer, Homeland Security." The other, on the back, is overprinted with the words "Special Issue — Resident — Lifetime License — United States Terrorist Hunting Permit — Permit 91101 Gun Owner — No Bag Limit."

The intended disciplinary action — which has yet to be administered — prompted Donald's parents to sue the district in January, claiming their son's First Amendment rights had been violated.

Tina and Donald Miller Jr. of Holtwood said their son's shirt showed the family's support for the troops in Iraq.

Donald's uncle, Pfc. Brian Souders, who is serving in Iraq with the 82nd Airborne Division, gave the shirt to the boy.

Donald, now 15 and a Penn Manor sophomore, wore the shirt three times to the high school beginning last September and once to Marticville Middle School in June 2007, according to court documents.

At the middle school, Donald was ordered to turn the shirt inside out because it violated school policy.

When he wore it to the high school in September 2007, a teacher pulled him aside and told him it was inappropriate after one of Donald's classmates complained to her about it.

The second time he wore the shirt, Donald was warned he would be sent to the principal's office if he wore it again. The third time, he was sent to the principal's office.

While discussing the shirt with assistant principal Christopher Moritzen, Donald said his parents would "freak out" if he wasn't allowed to wear it to school, according to court documents.

When Moritzen told Donald to go to the restroom and turn the shirt inside out, he walked out the door, using an obscenity to describe his feelings about the situation.

Moritzen gave him a two-hour detention for using foul language and not following directions, according to court documents. School officials, however, decided not to administer the discipline until the lawsuit was resolved.

The next day, Donald's parents met with Moritzen to discuss the shirt and the school's treatment of their son.

Mr. Miller gave Moritzen the address of a soldier serving in Iraq and suggested he write to him to explain how Moritzen "was not being supportive of the troops in Iraq by not allowing Donald to wear his T-shirt to school," according to court documents.

Brown said the T-shirt is clearly an expression of patriotism and not violence.

"This is a shirt that 90 percent of Americans would say supports the war on terror," he said.

"It doesn't advocate students killing anyone, and it didn't cause any disruption within the school, and that's the key issue."

Brown said the Supreme Court has ruled that student expressions can be banned only if they cause "substantial disruption" of the school environment.

A complaint by one student doesn't meet that standard, he said.

"When you hit the school violence buttons, that resonates with people, but that's not what this is about," he said.

Gardner, the judge, acknowledged the shirt means a great deal to Donald because it came from his uncle, but he said its message was too violent to be permitted in a school setting.

"The language on Donald's T-shirt advocates the use of force, violence and violation of law in the form of illegal vigilante behavior and the hunting and killing of human beings," the judge said in his ruling.

In most settings, the First Amendment would protect speech that presents a threat of violence, he noted. But a school is a special place, Gardner said.

"The impact of violence is so great that it now has equal importance as the issue of illegal drug use in schools," he said.

"There is nowhere that is truly safe or immune from the problem of school violence, from the one-room schoolhouse to America's largest universities."

"Students," Gardner said, "have no constitutional right to promote violence in our public schools."

Penn Manor Superintendent Donald Stewart said the ruling "affirms that the playing field for schools has altered. Schools need to be supported in their efforts to curb violence."

Although he endorsed the district's ban on the shirt, Gardner ordered Penn Manor to stop enforcing two policies on student expression that he deemed unconstitutional.

One prohibited expressions that "seek to establish the supremacy of a particular religious denomination, sect or point of view."

Penn Manor removed that policy earlier this year.

Another policy banned dress or expression that "is a distraction to the educational environment."

That section of the student handbook has been removed.

Brown said the Millers are "seriously considering" appealing Gardner's ruling.

E-mail: bwallace@lnpnews.com