Thread: VA- Schools won't apologize over T-shirts

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Schools won't apologize over T-shirts
By DANIEL GILBERT
dgilbert@potomacnews.com
Wednesday, April 5, 2006


Prince William County Public Schools defended Tuesday the decision of an area elementary school principal to bar two students from attending classes for wearing T-shirts he deemed potentially disruptive.
The school system addressed its response to the American Civil Liberties Union, which on Monday requested that Occoquan Elementary principal Todd Erickson apologize to the students and their parents, and issue a statement affirming protection for students' free speech rights.

"No apology is owed for protecting the safety of elementary students," stated the PWCS letter, written by School Board attorney Mary McGowan.

The statement said that the school division would not "prohibit students from expressing their political beliefs by wearing clothing such as the T-shirts in question," provided that the clothing is not worn "under circumstances where disruption to the schools and injury to students is reasonably foreseeable."

The T-shirts read "Latinos Forever" in Spanish on the front, and "100% Latino" on the back, and were worn by a second-grader and kindergarten student on a day when other area students -- mostly from high schools -- skipped school to protest anti-illegal immigration legislation.

The ACLU had objected that Erickson's action did not satisfy legal precedent, citing language from Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969), which upheld students' First Amendment rights unless a student action would "materially and substantially" disrupt the learning environment.

Placing the principal's decision Friday in the context of student protests last week, the PWCS letter claims that student absences throughout the county "materially disrupted the operation of the schools and the educational continuity of the students."

Erickson acted out of a concern that the shirts "were likely to incite older elementary school students to leave Occoquan," according to the letter.

Erickson said Friday he and his staff did not know of any Occoquan students who skipped school to protest during the week.

Kent Willis, executive director of ACLU in Virginia, said he was disappointed by the school system's response, but added that it contained a silver lining.

"The school system reaffirmed its commitment to free speech that in times not quite so tense as these, they would allow the T-shirts to be worn."

Nevertheless, Willis maintains, "it is quite a leap" that the T-shirts would have caused a 12-year-old to walk out of school.

The PWCS letter also reveals a possible point of miscommunication between the school system and the parents of the students.

The letter says an associate superintendent "attempted to contact the families" after the initial call on Friday and he provided his cell phone and office numbers, but "the parents made no effort to return his call or contact other administrators."

Maria and Jose Urrutia, the parents of Anderson Urrutia, 8, said neither of them received such a call. Carmen Soriano, mother of Joseph Soriano, 5, similarly said she received no call after the initial call alerting her that her son was not appropriately dressed Friday.

Willis said the ACLU intends to follow up with both the parents and the school system to determine the events of last Friday.

"Our principal concern is that it doesn't happen again," Willis said. "The letter implies that students may be allowed to wear those T-shirts in the future, but it doesn't say so explicitly. We need to find that out."

The T-shirts read "Latinos Forever" in Spanish on the front, and "100% Latino" on the back, and were worn by a second-grader and kindergarten student on a day when other area students -- mostly from high schools -- skipped school to protest anti-illegal immigration legislation.

I personally don't see anything wrong with a shirt like this but in the context of what has been happening over the last two weeks, I believe the principal did the right thing.

"Our principal concern is that it doesn't happen again," Willis said. "The letter implies that students may be allowed to wear those T-shirts in the future, but it doesn't say so explicitly. We need to find that out."

These guys are like pit bulls. Let it go.

My question is, do illegal aliens have any first amendment rights? The U.S. Constitution was written for American citizens, in America. It has no jurisdiction outside the US, so how can it apply to illegal aliens?