PLF contests dangerous court ruling that denies child’s free speech

When six-year-old B. B.* drew a picture for her classmate, she saw it through the lens of childhood innocence—a kind, comforting gesture. Her school, however, viewed it through a race-tinted lens and harshly punished the little girl, igniting a constitutional crisis and upending her family’s life.  

The California first-grader had just learned about Martin Luther King Jr. and “Black Lives Matter” in school. Feeling empathy for a classmate who is black, she drew a picture of them together with friends and wrote “Black Lives Mater” (sic). Underneath, she added “any life” and gave the picture to her friend. 

“She had drawn four circles in different colors. In her mind, it was her and her three friends holding hands,” recalls B.B.’s mother, Chelsea Boyle. “She thought that it would make her black friend feel better and accepted.”  

B.B.’s innocent gesture set off an alarming chain of events. The friend’s mother contacted the school principal, concerned her daughter was being singled out for her race.  

The school’s response was swift and severe. Without ever informing B.B.’s parents, the principal forced B.B. to apologize to her friend for the “racist” drawing and forbade her from drawing at school. Her teachers also made her sit out recess for two weeks. 

“The principal never ever talked to me,” says Chelsea. “He took it upon himself to talk to my daughter and punish her. She was embarrassed and he made her feel so bad, she went back into class and apologized to her again.”  

That was March 2021. Nearly a full year went by before Chelsea discovered the picture—by pure accident—during a text exchange with another parent. Chelsea then spent months trying to clear the air with the principal and the Capistrano Unified School District.  

“These things happen. I understand,” insists Chelsea. “All I wanted and all I continually asked for was an apology for my daughter.”  

When those efforts failed, Chelsea filed a federal lawsuit and was stunned when the judge upheld the school’s actions, reasoning that elementary school students have no First Amendment rights in the classroom.  

If the punishment and the court ruling weren’t egregious enough, the fallout for B.B.’s family became unbearable. B.B. developed anxiety and panic attacks. She and her young brother were persistently harassed by other students. Chelsea, once an active school volunteer, was ostracized.  

“It just got worse and worse and worse,” she recalls. “I knew everybody at that school, and everybody knew who I was, and all the kids would run up and give me a hug. Nobody wanted to talk to me anymore.”  

B.B.’s parents enrolled the children at another school to protect their privacy, but Chelsea says things became even worse: “Boys at the new school would hold my daughter down and tell her that her life didn’t matter.”  

The harassment ultimately elevated to the point the family’s whereabouts and children’s activities appeared on social media prompting the tough decision to uproot their lives and move to Florida. 

Their legal fight, however, is far from over. It’s deeply troubling that an elementary school would severely punish a first-grader for an innocent drawing that caused no disruption or offense. The school’s decision to introduce a controversial topic, then punish a child for using words adults found offensive, exposes a concerning fixation on race in public schools at the expense of creating a truly inclusive environment that values each student as an individual.  

Moreover, the district court’s ruling is fundamentally flawed and dangerous. An elementary school should not be a place where students are stripped of their rights. First-graders, like all Americans, have the right to free speech. Left unchallenged, this decision could erode First Amendment protections for countless elementary students across the nation. 

“For more than 100 years, the Supreme Court has recognized that students possess First Amendment rights in school,” explains PLF attorney Caleb Trotter. “The ruling here erases that bedrock of constitutional law.”  

Represented by Pacific Legal Foundation at no charge, B.B. and her mother are fighting back. They’ve asked the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse the absurd lower court ruling and restore the free speech rights of all students, including first-graders.  

While the ordeal has cost her family dearly in time, resources, and stability, Chelsea is pressing on in hopes of leaving the world a better place for her kids—and everyone else’s.  

“My daughter was harmed. Our family was harmed,” she says. “I want justice for my daughter and my family, but I really hope that I also give other parents strength to fight. I’ll do anything and everything to help them.”  

*Our client is a minor and is using the pseudonym B.B. for privacy.