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ACLU says school censored student's Milk report
Sacramento Bee ^ | May 21, 2009 | By LISA LEFF

Posted on 05/21/2009 9:12:19 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer

SAN FRANCISCO -- The American Civil Liberties Union on Wednesday threatened to sue a San Diego County school that refused to let a student present a report on slain gay rights leader Harvey Milk until her classmates got their parents' permission to hear it.

David Blair-Loy, legal director of the ACLU of San Diego County, said the principal of Mt. Woodson Elementary School in Ramona violated the free speech rights of 6th-grader Natalie Jones, who was the only student in her class prevented from giving an in-class presentation.

Principal Theresa Grace concluded last month that the subject of the girl's project triggered a district policy requiring parents to be notified in writing before their children are exposed to lessons dealing with sex, according to Blair-Loy and Natalie's mother.

(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: California
KEYWORDS: aclu; harveymilk; haters; milk; publicschools

1 posted on 05/21/2009 9:12:20 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

They should have let her have her “free speech” in an empty classroom.

I guess the other students and their parents have no rights.

The world is just crazy.


2 posted on 05/21/2009 9:17:36 AM PDT by Politicalmom ("Energy prices will necessarily skyrocket"-Zero)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
Do minors and students have free speech rights?

I was not asked when my son was forced to study muslims in his class for an entire week and when victims of mosques we brought in to speak of how wonderful their religion was and when I asked when Christianity was going to be taught I was told it was not part of the curriculum.

3 posted on 05/21/2009 9:20:16 AM PDT by edcoil (IF CA rolls pollution standards back to 1990 levels, lets roll CA spending back as well.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
Bonnie Jones said her daughter was inspired to choose Milk as the subject of her research report after seeing the movie "Milk," which earned Academy Awards for actor Sean Penn and screenwriter Dustin Lance Black.

Quite the political agenda there, Bonnie. Your daughter is in 6th grade so she's maybe 11 or 12. The movie ''Milk'' is rated R. IMDB has a detailed summary on why.

4 posted on 05/21/2009 9:22:20 AM PDT by Menehune56 ("Let them hate so long as they fear" (Oderint Dum Metuant), Lucius Accius, (170 BC - 86 BC))
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To: Menehune56

Oops, something happened. Here’s the workable IMDB link (very interesting):

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1013753/parentalguide


5 posted on 05/21/2009 9:24:29 AM PDT by Menehune56 ("Let them hate so long as they fear" (Oderint Dum Metuant), Lucius Accius, (170 BC - 86 BC))
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
Just guessing, but I think this might be like the Scopes trial -- the teaching establishment making decisions based on a desire for a legal group to step in, demand a trial, and then the "unacceptable" idea will become a "mandated" idea.

In short, I would not be surprised to find that the principal who is causing the "problem' is actually a lesbian and a huge Harvey Milk fan.

Full disclosure: I say all this out of pure cynicism, and I have no facts to substantiate my suspicions.

6 posted on 05/21/2009 9:24:32 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy (We are a ruled people, serfs to the Federal Oligarchy -- and the Tree of Liberty thirsts)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Where would the ACLU be if the report were on Jesus?


7 posted on 05/21/2009 9:42:58 AM PDT by Exton1
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

All Milk did was to pass a law against dogs pooping on the sidewalk. Historic.


8 posted on 05/21/2009 9:45:08 AM PDT by Exton1
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To: Politicalmom

Holy crap! Are you really suggesting that a 6th grade report on an actual person should trigger notes home to the parents?

The report was on the guy, not the mechanics of his sex life. You’d think the 6th grade girl was on a recruiting mission.

Talk about the world being crazy, I guess reports about mass murderers (Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot) would not require notes to be sent home, but reports about murdered homosexuals would. Wow. Just wow.


9 posted on 05/21/2009 9:47:35 AM PDT by dmz
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To: dmz

That’s part of why I posted my comment at #6. The school’s reaction is strange and over-the-top. Makes me think they are trying to provoke ACLU action — which they did.


10 posted on 05/21/2009 9:50:38 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy (We are a ruled people, serfs to the Federal Oligarchy -- and the Tree of Liberty thirsts)
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To: dmz
The report was on the guy, not the mechanics of his sex life. You’d think the 6th grade girl was on a recruiting mission.

None of us have seen the report. My guess is it prominently discusses his homosexual lifestyle. It kind of HAS to, since he was totally unremarkable for anything else. Discussion of sexuality of any kind is totally inappropriate for discussion in a 6th grade classroom.

11 posted on 05/21/2009 9:54:17 AM PDT by FreepShop1
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To: ClearCase_guy

Sounds correct.


12 posted on 05/21/2009 9:58:03 AM PDT by <1/1,000,000th%
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To: Exton1
Where would the ACLU be if the report were on Jesus?

In fact they passed on that very case when a child wrote a report on Jesus in her life. I think The ACLJ stepped up to confront the school, don't recall the outcome.

13 posted on 05/21/2009 10:02:54 AM PDT by itsahoot (Each generation takes to excess, what the previous generation accepted in moderation.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

14 posted on 05/21/2009 11:01:17 AM PDT by mikey_hates_everything
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