Tag Archives: Topic: Educaiton

LifeNews: Lawyers at the Alliance Defending Freedom filed a federal lawsuit on May 3. “Public schools should encourage, not shut down, the free exchange of ideas,” said Legal Counsel Matt Sharp. “The First Amendment protects freedom of speech for all students, regardless of their religious or political beliefs.”

L. Brent Bozell III at The Journal: Lawyers at the Alliance Defending Freedom filed a federal lawsuit May 3. “Public schools should encourage, not shut down, the free exchange of ideas,” said Legal Counsel Matt Sharp. “The First Amendment protects freedom of speech for all students, regardless of their religious or political beliefs.”

CBS: In Minnesota, for instance, a sixth grader at Nova Classical Academy was one of several students handing out pro-life fliers to other students during their lunch break. They weren’t making a big deal about it, or forcing the fliers on students who didn’t express an interest. This is just an issue these students care about. (One flier read, “Save the baby humans. Stop abortion.”) A few days later, the students were called into the school director’s office . . .

L. Brent Bozell at the Patriot Post: Lawyers at the Alliance Defending Freedom filed a federal lawsuit on May 3. “Public schools should encourage, not shut down, the free exchange of ideas,” said Legal Counsel Matt Sharp. “The First Amendment protects freedom of speech for all students, regardless of their religious or political beliefs.”

Matt Sharp at Alliance Defending Freedom: I’m often surprised by the number of school administrators under the mistaken belief that the First Amendment has an age limit. They think that while a kid is in elementary or middle school, they can stop them from expressing their views and that kids have to wait until high school to have constitutional rights.

Matt Sharp on the Zeb Bell Show to discuss this: Minn. School Says It Has ‘every Right To Prohibit Student Speech’ | MP3 audio 11:05 mins

LifeNews: However, a sixth grade student in Minnesota was recently handing out simple fliers that read, “Save the baby humans. Stop abortion.” She passed them out at lunchtime to friends and classmates interested in the topic. The school considered this political activism and regarded it as offensive. She was banned from passing them out during or after school hours, even if students requested them. The school administration essentially denied this young girl of her constitutionally protected right to free speech. And to make matters worse, they said sixth graders don’t have this right to free speech until they reach high school. Alliance Defending Freedom has since filed a federal lawsuit on the grounds of censorship and “hostility toward religious expression.”

One News Now: ADF attorney Matt Sharp is representing the sixth-grader who was prevented from handing out the pro-life flyers during non-instructional time. “They were not even just trying to prohibit it during the school day, but even before and after school,” he explains. “So if they’re standing out on the sidewalk on school grounds, they would be prohibited from doing it. Again, that’s far too great a restriction [and] something the courts have never permitted at any school.” [more]

LifeSiteNews: Public schools should encourage, not shut down, the free exchange of ideas,” said Legal Counsel Matt Sharp. “The law on this is extremely clear: free speech cannot be censored simply because it expresses a certain viewpoint that administrators don’t favor. The First Amendment protects freedom of speech for all students, regardless of their religious or political beliefs.”

UPI: “Unless there is a material disruption, students have the absolute right to distribute materials at school,” said Matt Sharp, an attorney with the Alliance Defending Freedom, an Arizona-based legal advocacy organization representing Zinos. “There was no evidence of disruption at the school at all.”

Marshall Independent (AP): “Unless there is a material disruption, students have the absolute right to distribute materials at school,” said Matt Sharp, an attorney with the organization. “There was no evidence of disruption at the school at all.”

Duluth News Tribune: “Unless there is a material disruption, students have the absolute right to distribute materials at school,” said Matt Sharp, an attorney with the organization. “There was no evidence of disruption at the school at all.”

WorldNetDaily: However, the lawsuit brought by the Alliance Defending Freedom said that’s exactly backwards. “Public schools should encourage, not shut down, the free exchange of ideas,” said ADF Legal Counsel Matt Sharp. “The law on this is extremely clear: free speech cannot be censored simply because it expresses a certain viewpoint that administrators don’t favor. The First Amendment protects freedom of speech for all students, regardless of their religious or political beliefs.”

Minneapolis Star Tribune: “Public schools should encourage, not shut down, the free exchange of ideas,” Matt Sharp, legal council for the alliance, said in a statement announcing the suit. “The law on this is extremely clear: Free speech cannot be censored simply because it expresses a certain viewpoint that administrators don’t favor.”

LifeNews: “Public schools should encourage, not shut down, the free exchange of ideas,” said Legal Counsel Matt Sharp. “The law on this is extremely clear: free speech cannot be censored simply because it expresses a certain viewpoint that administrators don’t favor. The First Amendment protects freedom of speech for all students, regardless of their religious or political beliefs.”

 Religion Clause Blog: The complaint (full text) in A.Z. v. Nova Classical Academy, (D MN, filed 4/25/2013), recounts that a school administrator told plaintiff and her friends that they could not pass out the flyers because some students find them offensive . . . Alliance Defending Freedom issued a press release announcing the filing of the lawsuit.

Alliance Defending Freedom filed a federal lawsuit Friday on behalf of a 6th-grade student after a Minnesota public school prohibited her from distributing pro-life fliers to her classmates during non-instructional time.

Religion Clause Blog: In Shively v. Green Local School District Board of Education, (ND OH, Feb. 28, 2013), parents filed suit claiming that school officials and employees failed to prevent or respond to physical, verbal and electronic religion-based and gender-based bullying of their daughter that went on for years.

Video and resources by the Alliance Defending Freedom and Gateways to Better Education.

Christian News Network: A national civil rights group that is known for its advocacy of the homosexual lifestyle is promoting its annual “Mix It Up” tolerance day to elementary schools.

Wall Street Journal (via Google) Accountability for results and freedom from union rules attract the best teachers into the profession.

Education Week: The appeal stems from a long-running lawsuit over several incidents in which administrators in the Plano, Texas, school district allegedly barred students from distributing items such as religious-themed candy canes or pencils with messages like “Jesus is the Reason for the Season” or “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”