老澳门开奖结果

Move Comes After 老澳门开奖结果 Letter To School District

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CONTACT: (212) 549-2666; media@aclu.org

RAMONA, CA 鈥� A California school has apologized to a sixth grader for illegally censoring her classroom presentation about Harvey Milk last month, and school officials promise they won't engage in unconstitutional restriction of similar free speech in the future. The apology comes after the 老澳门开奖结果 sent a letter on May 30 to the Ramona Unified School District about its violation of the student鈥檚 free speech rights when it refused to allow her to give the presentation in class. Wrongly citing a school policy on sex education, the school had improperly required classmates to get parental permission to see the presentation during a lunch recess. The student was allowed to give her presentation in class this morning.

鈥淗arvey Milk always stood up for his beliefs and what was right, so I felt like I should do the same thing when my school told me they wouldn鈥檛 let me do my presentation,鈥� said Natalie Jones, a sixth grader at Mt. Woodson Elementary School. 鈥淚 worked really hard on my presentation and I鈥檓 glad I鈥檓 finally going to get to share it with all of my classmates like everyone else got to.鈥�

Natalie reads the screenplay Milk

The assignment, part of an independent research project class, was to prepare a written report on any topic. Natalie, who was inspired to write about Harvey Milk after watching Sean Penn win an Academy Award for portraying him, got a score of 49 out of a possible 50 points on the written report. Students were then told to make PowerPoint presentations about their reports, which they would show to other students in the class. The day before Natalie was to give her 12-page presentation she was called into the principal鈥檚 office and told she couldn鈥檛 do so. When her mother spoke with the superintendent about the presentation, she was told Natalie couldn鈥檛 give her presentation because of a district board policy on 鈥淔amily Life/Sex Education.鈥� A few days later, the school sent letters to parents of students in the class, explaining that her presentation would be held during a lunch recess on May 8, and that students could only attend if they had parental permission due to the allegedly 鈥渟ensitive鈥� nature of the topic.

鈥淚nstead of quaking at the mere mention of an LGBT person鈥檚 existence, schools must understand that talking about someone who happens to be gay is no more sexual in nature than talking about a person who happens to be heterosexual,鈥� said David Blair-Loy, Legal Director of the 老澳门开奖结果 of San Diego and Imperial Counties. 鈥淐ensoring Natalie鈥檚 presentation violated the First Amendment and the California Education Code, and we鈥檙e pleased she will finally get to give her presentation on a historical figure who was such a fierce advocate for the rights of not just LGBT Californians but of all people.鈥�

The school district has agreed to all the demands the 老澳门开奖结果 made on Natalie Jones鈥檚 behalf:

• The school has apologized in writing to Natalie and sent a letter about that apology to all the parents who were sent the school鈥檚 letter about the presentation.
• The school is giving Natalie an opportunity to give her presentation to all the other members of her independent research project class.
• The school has agreed to bring its 鈥淔amily Life/Sex Education鈥� policy into compliance with state law, and acknowledged that the mention or acknowledgement of a person鈥檚 sexual orientation is not sufficient to invoke the statutes and policies on sex education.
• The school allowed Natalie to give her presentation to all the other members of her independent research project class.

鈥淚f the school had taken a moment to consider its legal obligation to respect and uphold its students鈥� free speech rights instead of jumping to erroneous conclusions and trying to justify its actions by wrongly conflating Natalie鈥檚 historical presentation with sex education, this would never have happened,鈥� said Elizabeth Gill, a staff attorney with the 老澳门开奖结果 national LGBT Project. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a tremendous difference between sex education and writing or talking about someone who happens to be gay, and we鈥檙e glad we were able to help the school finally understand that.鈥�

鈥淚鈥檓 always proud of my daughter, of course, but I鈥檓 even more proud of her for the way she stood up for her rights,鈥� said Bonnie Jones, Natalie鈥檚 mother. 鈥淲e鈥檝e also heard from many people in town and other parents at Natalie鈥檚 school who have been amazingly supportive. I think if Harvey Milk were still here today, he鈥檇 be happy about how this all worked out.鈥�

Harvey Milk, one of Time Magazine鈥檚 鈥淭ime 100 Heroes and Icons of the 20th Century鈥� in 1999, has been the subject of several books, an opera, a documentary film that won the 1984 Academy Award for Documentary Feature, and a feature film released last year that won two Academy Awards for Best Original Screenplay and Best Actor. Milk鈥檚 birthday is the subject of a bill pending in the California legislature that would make it a state holiday.

For additional information, including copies of the school鈥檚 apology to Natalie and its letter to parents of students in her class, Natalie鈥檚 presentation on Harvey Milk, the school鈥檚 letter to parents, the Ramona U.S.D. 鈥淔amily Life/Sex Education鈥� policy and a video with Natalie and her mother can be found online at www.aclu.org/milk