Blog Post
August 3, 2010
The California State Assembly approved legislation yesterday that guarantees free-speech rights for students and teachers at charter schools.
Passed by a 51-19 vote, Senate Bill 438 now goes to the desk of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who will have 12 days to either sign or veto it. The Senate approved their version of the bill in January.
Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, wrote the bill after administrators at the Orange County High School of the Arts claimed their charter school status exempted them from having to follow laws protecting free speech. In September, officials at the Santa Ana charter halted publication of a student newspaper after reading a student report critical of the school's cafeteria management company.
In a statement, Yee said students must have the right to free expression.
It is quite disheartening to hear that taxpayer-funded charter schools think their students do not deserve the same rights as those afforded to students at public and private schools throughout our state. SB 438 will clear up any ambiguity in law and provide much-needed protections.
Last month, the Orange County High School of the Arts fired the faculty advisor for the student newspaper, leading some to accuse the charter administrators of retaliation. School officials denied those charges. They declined to share details about the decision. Yee said yesterday school officials are sending the wrong message to their students and the community.
Blog Post
July 30, 2010
When the U.S. Supreme Court endorsed a UC Hastings College of the Law decision to bar a Christian student group from receiving university funds last month, some free-speech advocates winced, saying the court's opinion would be used by colleges and universities to squelch offensive or unpopular speech.
It looks like they might be right.
The Los Angeles Community College District is trying to use the Hastings ruling to bolster its defense in a speech code case, in which a college professor mocked a student who was speaking about his Christian faith in class.
The Los Angeles case began in fall 2008 when Los Angeles City College student Jonathan Lopez gave an impassioned talk about his Christian beliefs during a Speech 101 class. He spoke about his opposition to gay marriage in the wake of the passage of the controversial Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in the state.
According to the complaint, professor John Matteson interrupted Lopez, called him a "fascist bastard" and refused to let him finish his speech. Matteson left an evaluation form on Lopez's backpack that said "Ask God what your grade is."
Lopez sued, seeking financial damages and a ban on enforcing the sexual harassment code, which prohibited "hostile" and "offensive" remarks in and out of the classroom.
Blog Post
July 30, 2010
School boards are trying to reverse a federal court ruling banning administrators from controlling the free-speech rights of teachers and other school employees.
According to a brief filed yesterday in 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the National School Boards Association (NSBA) and the California School Boards Association (CSBA) argue that public K to 12 schools need discretion to regulate their employees’ expressions in the workplace.
“Public-school officials need authority over what teachers say and do in the classroom,” said NSBA Executive Director Anne L. Bryant in a press release. “Nearly every teacher posts artwork and other materials on their walls, and schools have a responsibility to ensure those materials are appropriate for students.”
The case stems from an incident in Poway Unified School District. According to published reports, Principal Dawn Kastner of Westview High School asked teacher Bradley Johnson to remove banners he posted around his classroom with the phrases: "In God we trust," "One nation under God," "God bless America," "God shed his grace on thee" and "All men are created equal, they are endowed by their creator."
Blog Post
July 6, 2010
An Orange County high school newspaper and yearbook adviser who stood up to the school's administration when it threatened to censor the paper has been dismissed, prompting accusations of retaliation.
Konnie Krislock, adviser at Orange County High School of the Arts, got a letter June 20 saying she had been dismissed – less than a year after Krislock had a very public dust-up with Principal Sue Vaughn last fall, according to the Student Press Law Center.
"The school owes the public a full explanation if they're going to maintain this was not a retaliatory discharge because its awfully coincidental," said Frank LoMonte, executive director of the Student Press Law Center.
"There's unfortunately such a long history of schools … firing teachers to discourage students from doing investigative journalism. They've proven they're not entitled to the benefit of the doubt."
Orange County High School of the Arts Senior Vice President Steven Wagner released a statement saying the school would not talk about the details of any school employee, but that it has not retaliated.
"The school has never, and will never, practice retaliation," Wagner said in the statement. "We base all staffing decisions on what best meets the needs of our students and instructional program."
Blog Post
March 18, 2010
Clarifying the line between free speech and political advertising on the Internet is proving to be a thorny issue for the California Fair Political Practices Commission, which held the first of two planned hearings on the subject yesterday morning.
The commission's subcommittee overseeing Internet political activity didn't take a stance on how, or even if, the commission would regulate political advocacy via e-mail, social networking sites and blogs – essentially online analogs of conventional political tools like direct mail and newspaper opinion pieces.
"I think the devil is in the details on how you draw that line," said Derek Cressman, regional director for Common Cause, which often advocates on behalf of campaign reform issues. Cressman was among nine experts and stakeholders invited to speak at the hearing.
California is one of the first states to begin looking at online political communication. The Federal Election Commission's first stab at such rules in 2006 led to a largely hands-off approach, requiring disclosure from campaigns and disclaimers on Internet political advertising.
Blog Post
February 15, 2010
A reporter for the tiny Dodge City Daily Globe in Kansas was forced to testify at a closed “inquisition” convened late Friday by a prosecutor who had wanted the journalist’s notes and sources from a recent story.
In October, reporter Claire O’Brien went to the local jail and interviewed a Hispanic man accused of killing one man and wounding another in a shooting. In her story, O’Brien quoted a confidential source as saying the wounded man belonged to an organization with “anti-Hispanic beliefs” that had access to automatic weapons.
O’Brien spent 75 minutes on the witness stand on Friday, the AP said. In an email to California Watch, O'Brien said her source came forward to the judge shortly before Friday's hearing, and although she was interviewed extensively, she was not asked to reveal that person's name. O'Brien did not say what she testified about.
"The source coming forward at the eleventh hour was astonishing," O'Brien told her newspaper in a story about the controversy. "He saved me. I was prepared to go to jail to protect his identity."
Blog Post
February 1, 2010
Two free-speech groups have urged Los Angeles City College officials to stop censoring student journalists, describing the administration as one of the worst offenders in recent memory.
The Student Press Law Center and the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education outlined their complaints in a Jan. 15 letter to college officials. The letter describes “roadblocks, hostility and threats directed at Collegian journalists” by LACC President Jamillah Moore’s administration. The letter was written to LACC Board of Trustees President Mona Field.
For all of its faults, Los Angeles City College’s student newspaper is clearly serving its students well. LACC should he applauding its tenacious, serious, award-winning group of student journalists, students who are committed to telling the truth even when it brings the animus of their supposed educators. ... The Collegian must remain editorially independent. With the school’s accreditation already in jeopardy, this is a perilous time for LACC to take its moral and legal obligations lightly.
Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, who has been tracking the issue in LA, has called for an investigation into possible violations of student journalists' rights, the Student Press Law Center said.
