Case: 12-60264 Document: 00513162565 Page: 6 Date Filed: 08/20/2015 No. 12-60264 remain in the school commons until the school bus he rode arrived at the end of the day.) By letter that day to Bell’s mother, the superintendent informed her: Bell’s suspension would continue until further notification; and a hearing would be held to consider disciplinary action for Bell’s “alleged threatening intimidation and/or harassment of one or more school teachers”. The listed, possible basis for such action was consistent with the school district’s administrative disciplinary policy, which lists “[h]arassment, intimidation, or threatening other students and/or teachers” as a severe disruption. The disciplinary-committee hearing, originally scheduled for Wednesday, 19 January, was delayed at Bell’s mother’s request; it was held on Wednesday, 26 January. Although there is no transcript of the hearing, it was recorded; that recording is in the summary-judgment record. The hearing was facilitated by the school-board attorney, Floyd; three disciplinarycommittee members were present, as well as the school principal and Bell, his mother, and their attorney. The hearing began with the principal’s providing a summary of events, after which the YouTube version of the rap recording was played. Among the disciplinary-committee members’ questions, one member asked Bell whether he had reported the alleged misconduct to school officials. Bell explained he had not done so because he believed they would ignore his complaints. Instead, he made the rap recording because he knew people were “gonna listen to it, somebody’s gonna listen to it”, acknowledging several times during the hearing that he posted the recording to Facebook because he knew it would be viewed and heard by students. Moreover, he explained that at least 2,000 people had contacted him about the rap recording in response to the Facebook and YouTube postings. 6