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Katie Sierra was suspended from Sissonville High School in October for distributing pro-anarchy fliers and wearing a T-shirt protesting military operations in Afghanistan.

This week the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union hopes to highlight similarities between the two First Amendment cases and spark support for Katie Sierra, the suspended student, in a weeklong series of events titled "Tinker Days: Keeping the Constitution Inside the Schoolhouse Gates."

The 1969 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Tinker v. Des Moines ruled that students and teachers do not "shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gates." It supported three Des Moines, Iowa, students who were suspended after they wore black armbands to school to protest the Vietnam War. "Tinker Days" marked the 33rd anniversary of the decision on Feb. 24.

ACLU leaders believe that Sierra's expression should be protected in the same way.

Andrew Schneider, executive director of the West Virginia ACLU chapter, said that he hoped "Tinker Days" would persuade some of Sierra's critics that her case is important to maintaining freedom of expression in schools.

"[Sierra's suspension] took place in a time when tensions were very heightened, during the actual hostilities that were taking place in Afghanistan, and not too long after the tragedies with the World Trade Center," Schneider said. "Our hope is that tensions have cooled now and calmer minds will prevail, and in that kind of atmosphere, we can actually reach out to people who are not at the polar extremes, those people who might be sort of in the middle."

Sierra's homemade T-shirts bore anarchy symbols and phrases promoting peace. The shirt that got her into trouble bore the phrase: "When I saw the dead and dying Afghani children on TV, I felt a newly recovered national sense of security. God Bless America."

As part of the "Tinker Days" series, Sierra and John Tinker, one of the students involved in the 1965 protest in Des Moines, will speak jointly on Feb. 26 at Huntington High School and Marshall University. Students at Huntington, which has the only high school ACLU chapter in West Virginia, will receive wallet-sized cards outlining their rights.

Sierra's controversial T-shirt and one of the black armbands worn in the 1965 Des Moines protest will be on display in the Sissonville public library on Feb. 28, where members of the school board, students and members the public are expected to debate her case.

Some Kanawha County school board members criticized the ACLU and the Sissonville library for having the program.

A Kanawha County Circuit Court judge in November denied Sierra's preliminary injunction against the school. Sierra and the ACLU will return to court on June 24.