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Faith Under Fire: First Amendment protections for students and their parents

Parents are increasingly being ignored, targeted and attacked – for protecting the rights of their children in school settings. Family Life talked with a Christian attorney who says what is happening to the young people is even worse.

A 15-year-old student in a Clark County school district in Nevada was forced to perform a profanity-laced, sexually explicit, and obscene monologue before the entire class as a graded assignment. School officials then lied to the parents. Although the teen girl had been forced to say those words in front of her class the school board prevented the student’s mother from reading aloud those same words in a public meeting of adults.

Abigail Southerland of the American Center for Law and Justice explains the case for us, as well as the multiple efforts which the parents made to complain to the Las Vegas Academy of the Arts. (The girl’s father had to do so virtually, as he was on a military deployment.)

A decision from the Federal Court is expected soon. Because of the First Amendment issues raised, there could be an appeal of the verdict, to address what the plaintiffs call compelled speech for the student and restricted speech for the parents.

 

                    Bonus content:

• A written summary of the experiences of this family and the case before the Nevada Court
• ACLJ’s one-page guide on the Free Speech rights of all students in schools nationwide.