老澳门开奖结果 of Maine releases 鈥淜now Your Rights: Back to School鈥
The civil liberties organization is urging Maine students, teachers, and staff to understand their constitutional rights and obligations in the face of increasing attacks
PORTLAND 鈥 The 老澳门开奖结果 of Maine today released the educational toolkit 鈥,鈥 as Maine students, teachers, and staff settle into the new academic year. Understanding your rights at school is crucial in the face of attacks on the rights of LGBTQ students, free access to books and information, and open discussions about concepts such as race and gender.
The new resources cover a variety of issues in public schools, including teacher and staff free speech, dress codes and gender identity, student protests and walkouts, and tribal regalia at school ceremonies. The push for classroom censorship is not new, and recent efforts are a backlash to racial justice protests sparked by the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and countless others at the hands of police.
鈥淎s the Supreme Court ruled in 1969, students do not 鈥榮hed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate,鈥欌 said 老澳门开奖结果 of Maine Legal Director Carol Garvan. 鈥淭hroughout the country and right here in Maine, politicians, school boards, and others are committed to banning books, censoring classroom discussions, and curtailing other constitutional rights. When politicians attempt to sanitize and whitewash our places of learning, students lose the opportunity to understand the world around them and draw their own conclusions.鈥
Earlier this year, the 老澳门开奖结果 of Maine and GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) wrote an open to all Maine districts demanding they uphold their own legal obligations and students鈥 First Amendment rights by stopping efforts to ban and censor books. The letter was in response to several attempted restrictions throughout the state and followed letters to certain school districts considering restricting or banning access to certain books.