Public school faculty are expected to devote their energies to teaching whatever subject they have been assigned, not engaging in efforts to change the religious views of their students.
Most teachers follow this rule and are happy to do so. They recognize that parents have the right to control the religious upbringing of their children and have no desire to interfere in that process.
But occasionally a bad apple surfaces. When that happens, it’s up to school officials to make sure the classroom remains a place for teaching, not preaching.
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently issued a welcome reaffirmation of that principle in a case dealing with a Virginia teacher who wanted to use an in-class bulletin board to spread religious messages.
William Lee, a Spanish teacher at Tabb High School in Yorktown, posted a variety of religious materials in the fall of 2004. Among these items were a newsletter from a Christian missionary group, a poster depicting George Washington praying at Valley Forge and articles from local newspapers about religious activities by government officials.
Someone mentioned this display to the school board, and Principal Crispin Zanca visited Lee’s classroom to investigate. Lee was absent that day, and Zanca removed the items, leaving them on Lee’s desk and requesting a meeting. Zanca noted that this material had nothing to do with Lee’s subject. The articles weren’t even in Spanish. When Lee returned to school, he met with the principal to discuss the matter but was not happy with Zanca’s actions. Lee later sued, asserting that his free-speech rights had been violated.
The appeals court disagreed. In its unanimous Lee v. York County School Division ruling, the court held that public school officials have wide latitude to control what teachers do in the classroom. The court noted that the right to free speech in the public school setting it not unfettered and pointed out that school officials may curb speech that conflicts with the school’s educational mission.
Quoting a prior case, the court observed, “Put simply, our school systems are responsiblefor adequately and properly educating our youth. A school board carrying out this vital responsibility is entitled to some enhanced control over expressions within its classrooms, so that it can ‘assure … that readers or listeners are not exposed to material that may be inappropriate for their level of maturity, and that the views of the individual speaker are not erroneously attributed to the school.’”
John W. Whitehead’s Rutherford Institute defended Lee in court. Whitehead says he plans to ask the Supreme Court to hear the case, but he is wasting his time. Over the years, several public school teachers have tried to argue in court that their proselytizing activities are protected forms of free speech. The courts have never been receptive to this argument.
In this case, the ruling is especially significant because the 4th Circuit is considered one of the most conservative panels in the nation. Even this court saw through Lee’s ruse because the case was weak to begin with.
It’s time for the Religious Right to give up this particular line of argument. It isn’t working for them, for an obvious reason: Public school teachers are supposed to stick to the subject at hand, not interfere in matters that are not their business – such as the personal religious views of their students.
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