Dawson v. East Side Union High School Dist

Dawson v. East Side Union High School Dist. (1994) 28 Cal.App.4th 998, was an action by the superintendent of public instruction to enjoin a school district from showing "Channel One," a daily classroom current events television program containing commercial advertisements. The trial court granted a permanent injunction prohibiting the district from showing the program, except on the condition it adopt and implement a policy (subject to court-mandated guidelines and oversight) permitting students to opt out of watching it. ( Id. at pp. 1010-1016.) The Court of Appeal reversed, noting the district had adopted an opt-out policy of its own which, while not as comprehensive as the one mandated by the court, had not been shown to be ineffective. "Upon the record before us we are obliged to agree ... that the injunctive portion of the judgment cannot be affirmed, because the record does not support an essential finding that the students would be compelled to watch the classroom video advertising. Absent such a finding, the trial court lacked authority to burden the school district with court-devised procedures to avert a speculative possibility that students otherwise might be so compelled." ( Id. at p. 1040.)