Students were illegally punished for Black Lives Matter posters, ACLU says
A group of young Sacramento students was unlawfully singled out and punished for creating posters that supported the Black Lives Matter movement as part of an art class led by a parent volunteer, the American Civil Liberties Union said.
Four students at Del Paso Manor Elementary School created the works after a lesson on how art is used in activist movements. They were improperly forced to redo their posters during class time, the civil liberties group said in a letter to San Juan Unified School District this week. One student’s art was thrown away.
“By censoring and punishing the students, the school violated their constitutional free speech rights, and sent the damaging message that supporting black lives is not welcome in their classrooms,” Abre’ Conner, staff attorney at the ACLU Foundation of Northern California, said in a news release.
The school also violated the 1st Amendment rights of the parent who led the students’ art lesson in September by banning her from coming back to the classroom in retaliation for speaking to the principal about the incident, the ACLU said.
A district official said in an emailed statement Friday that the allegations are serious and that the district is investigating. However, there are inconsistencies between the ACLU’s account, the district’s prior knowledge of the incident and what it has learned since receiving the ACLU’s letter on Thursday, said Raj Rai, the district communication coordinator.
“It is inconsistent with our values and never our intent or desire for any student to feel uncomfortable or unwelcome to discuss issues that are important to them. We sincerely apologize if this experience made any student feel such discomfort,” Rai said. “Censoring a student’s assigned work because of its content would not be acceptable.”
According to the ACLU letter, a Del Paso Manor parent and frequent volunteer identified only as Ms. Kincaid taught a lesson on art and activism as part of the school’s “art docent” program on Sept. 16. She showed posters that referenced immigration, housing rights and Black Lives Matter, among other topics.
After the lesson, the students were assigned to focus on a change they wanted to see at their school. Four students created Black Lives Matters posters, including one who CONTINUE READING: Students were illegally punished for Black Lives Matter posters, ACLU says - Los Angeles Times