Posted on 10/13/2009 4:20:31 PM PDT by wagglebee
Scranton, PA (LifeNews.com) -- Officials at a Pennsylvania school targeted a middle school student who came to class wearing a pro-life t-shirt with the message, "Abortion is Not Health Care." Officials at Crossroads Middle School in Lewisberry ordered the student to remove the shirt on the day of President Obama’s public address to students.
School officials deemed the shirt “inappropriate,” saying it might insult somebody -- even though the school routinely allows students to wear other shirts with other potentially offensive messages.
Alliance Defense Fund attorneys filed a lawsuit in federal court last week against the West Shore School District for prohibiting the student from wearing the shirt.
"Pro-life students shouldn't be censored for their views,” ADF Senior Legal Counsel David Cortman told LifeNews.com on Monday.
“It’s clearly unconstitutional for school officials to prohibit a student’s message on the grounds that someone might not like it. The school routinely allows students to wear a wide variety of messages on their shirts without any concerns, but this student has been singled out even though his shirt caused no disruption and is clearly within the bounds of constitutionally guaranteed free speech," he said.
The student wore his shirt to express his religious viewpoint on abortion and did so without incident until his fifth period teacher sent him to the principal’s office to see whether the shirt was “appropriate.”
There he was ordered to remove his shirt on the grounds that it might insult somebody. He was sent to the nurse’s office, where he turned his shirt inside out because he had no other shirt to wear.
ADF attorneys are challenging two school district policies.
One is a “student expression” policy, which prohibits speech that “seek[s] to establish the supremacy of a particular religious denomination, sect, or point of view” and speech that “contain[s] material otherwise deemed harmful to impressionable students.”
The other is a “dress and grooming” policy that prohibits “clothing which creates a hostile educational environment or evidences discriminatory bias or animus” or displays “inappropriate words.”
“These are highly unconstitutional policies that demonstrate that there’s a widespread need for schools to be educated about the First Amendment. Under the current wording, a student could actually be prevented from saying that his beliefs are true,” Cortman explained.
“The policies also allow officials unrestricted discretion in determining what speech violates the policies. In this case, they clearly singled out this student’s pro-life speech and illegitimately censored it," he continued.
ADF-allied attorney Randall Wenger with the Independence Law Center in Harrisburg is assisting with the case, E.B. v. West Shore School District, filed October 5 with the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
Related web sites:
Alliance Defense Fund - http://www.alliancedefensefund.org
A baby is murdered EVERY 24 SECONDS, NOTHING is more offensive than that.
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Public school = no education.
Period.
Of course, the Truth must always be hidden......
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...I decided many moons ago that anyone that disagrees with me, and is unwilling to debate, or shout me down, that I was going to insult them as loud or louder. Been studying Mark Twain, Groucho Marx, and reading G Becks’ book, fer backup. It’s time to Disturb the Peace!!!
...Don’t like it! TOUGH SH!T! ARREST ME!!!
Wrong. They are getting educated. They are learning that homosexuality is normal, Martin Luther king and Caesar Chavez are the greatest Americans ever, and how to sing hymns to ossama obammy mmm mm mmm.
They may try it, but it won't work in the long run because:
Where is the ACLU now? This is total horse shit! Had a student wore a shirt that read “my body, my choice”, they would have been the darling of the day and probably be given a front row seat to make sure Obama sees what wonderful little jerks go to that school. Pitiful.
Dr. Jemry L. Small, Superintendent of Schools West Shore School District 507 Fishing Creek Road New Cumberland, Pennsylvania, USA 17070-0803 Phone: 717-938-9577 Fax: 717-938-2779 Email: JSmall@wssd.k12.pa.us
To express your concern to the school principal:
Robert Savidge, Principal Crossroads Middle School 535 Fishing Creek Road Lewisberry, PA, USA 17339-9518 Phone: 717-932-1295 Email: RSavidge@wssd.k12.pa.us
Another T-shirt idea...
"Sodomy is NOT a family value."
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