ACLU warns school board that litigation is possible if policy is not revoked
In a letter sent today to the Prince William County School Board, the ACLU of Virginia says that a recently amended policy intended to prevent discrimination in the county’s public schools violates the free speech clause of the First Amendment. The civil liberties group is asking the school board to revoke the policy or face the possibility of litigation.
The Code of Behavior for Prince William County Public Schools, as amended in May, prohibits the use of spoken or written statements that “offend” based on “personal and physical characteristics or other characteristics of individuals or groups.” In order to be banned, statements need not be directed at a particular individual or group, nor must they be intentionally offensive. Punishment includes “corrective action up to and including expulsion” from school.
The ACLU will consider offering legal representation to students who fear exercising their right of free speech because of the policy or who are punished under the policy for engaging in constitutionally protected speech.
“One of the problems with Prince William’s policy is that it fails to make a distinction between speech that may be offensive but is protected by the Constitution and speech that is threatening, which is not protected by the Constitution,” said ACLU of Virginia executive director Kent Willis. “Under this policy, school officials may punish students simply because they find their ideas to be offensive, even where there is no threat or intent to do harm.”
“Prince William’s objective of establishing a school environment in which students treat each other as equals is admirable,” added Willis, “but they cannot do it by eliminating the right of free speech.”
“To create an atmosphere in which offensive speech is minimized, teachers should do what they do best – teach,” writes ACLU of Virginia legal director Rebecca K. Glenberg in her letter to Prince William County School Board Chair Lucy Beauchamp. “Teaching about the importance of tolerance and respect, and about how students’ speech may affect other people, is perfectly lawful and critically important.”
A copy of Glenberg’s letter is found at http://acluva.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/20021004-Prince-William-School-Free-Speech.pdf.
Contacts: Kent Willis or Rebecca K. Glenberg, Esq.; 804-644-8022
