School Board News

In case you missed the blanket of coverage on the diversity cases decided yesterday by the Supreme Court, check out the following links.

USA Today carried the story on the front page, “National School Boards Association executive director Anne Bryant said she hoped schools would continue with ‘careful race-conscious policies,’ including magnet programs.”

ABC News with Charles Gibson featured the story, “We have our work cut out for us,” said Francisco Negrón of the National School Boards Association. “But I think it’s a task that school boards all over the country are up to.”

Also in the ABC story, “Without using race as a factor, we have found that schools have become more and more racially isolated in San Francisco, or segregated — which is not what we want,” said San Francisco school board member [and NSBA CUBE Steering Committee Member] Jill Wynn.

Negrón was also quoted in the New York Times:

Deciding how school assignment plans will have to be changed to comply with the ruling will require school boards to show some creativity, said Francisco Negrón, general counsel for the National School Boards Association.

“The court doesn’t give guidelines, and it’s not going to be one size fits all,” Mr. Negrón said.

The Times-Picayune quoted NSBA Staff Attorney, Tom Hutton, “Even if you’re under a court order, this is your future if you’re going to be coming out from it. It pays to be thinking about it now, because the landscape is going to change.”

BoardBuzz is still just as disappointed as we were this morning in the Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision to strike down the voluntary integration plans of the Seattle and Louisville school districts, but we’re encouraged by the fact that a majority of the court recognized the ability of school boards to continue to maintain racial diversity as a legitimate educational goal.

After reading the opinion, NSBA‘s General Counsel Francisco Negrón pointed out, “Despite the majority opinion, we are pleased with Justice Anthony M. Kennedy’s separate concurrence that explicitly rejected the plurality’s contention that racial diversity constituted racial balancing, which is constitutionally impermissible.”

In addition, Anne Bryant, NSBA‘s executive director, noted that “School districts have a compelling reason to create a diverse learning environment because it helps improve student achievement and prepares students to live and work in an increasingly diverse society.”

You can read NSBA’s complete press release here and you can check out Negrón on ABC World News Tonight with Charles Gibson and on various local NBC affiliates throughout the nation. You can also listen to his interview on “All Things Considered” tonight on NPR, during Nina Totenburg’s court report.

Tomorrow, look for newspaper coverage of NSBA‘s reaction to the decision in USA Today, the New York Times, and Associated Press stories. Several other papers also covered NSBA‘s reaction: the Orlando Sentinel, Cincinnati Inquirer, Baltimore Examiner, Washington Times, and the Times Picayune, as well as Education Week.

Legal junkies can get more information and opinions from the SCOTUS blog and the Supreme Court School Integration blog. And don’t forget NSBA‘s great resource page here.

This morning, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in the diversity cases, striking down voluntary integration plans in the public schools of Seattle and Louisville. Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., wrote the majority opinion in the combined cases. The two school districts, Roberts wrote, have “failed to provide the necessary support for the proposition that there is no other way than individual racial classifications to avoid racial isolation in their school districts.”

Justice Anthony M. Kennedy did not join all of the majority opinion, but joined in the result.

Contrary to popular belief, the cases do not involve affirmative action or “forced busing” programs. In a briefing paper on the cases, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund noted that, “In the vast majority of K-12 public schools, there is no competitive admissions process or attempt to evaluate students’ ‘merit’ in determining student assignment. Every student will be assigned to a public school within the district; the only question is which children will be educated together. Or, put another way, the choice is whether to pursue integration in student assignment through voluntary transfers and other mechanisms, or whether to leave schools racially isolated.”

BoardBuzz will have updates on this story later today. Click here to get more information and resources on these cases.

USA Today opines in its editorial today that the yesterday’s Supreme Court decision in Morse v. Frederick is “an invitation for school officials to ban or punish any student speech they can reasonably interpret as promoting illegal drug use or perhaps other activities.”

Is BoardBuzz missing something? Is USA Today saying that exposing students to messages promoting illegal drug use is appropriate in schools? Surely not. Is USA Today saying that messages of this sort when delivered by students have minimal impact and, therefore, do not merit regulation? It is true that BoardBuzz left the public school hive many years ago, but is young enough to remember that some things like peer pressure are part of most every youth’s experience.

But USA Today appears to take issue with schools taking an active role in protecting students, objecting to what it sees as overreaching: “There’s no obvious reason the court’s rationale — drug use is extremely harmful to kids, and advocating it should be off limits — can’t be extended to other behaviors, such as sex and underage drinking.”

BoardBuzz is aghast at USA Today’s narrow view of the mission of schools. Thankfully, school boards all over the country know the expectations parents rightfully have of them when they entrust their children to the public schools. And, they know that a safe learning environment is the best place for students to learn.

But, we do agree with USA Today on one count: No, educators “don’t take constitutional lawyers with them to school.” They take their professionalism, their creativity, and their love for inspiring and educating their students. And, now they can continue to do so without worrying that their professional efforts will be undermined by needless and costly litigation.

Read more coverage in the Washington Post here and on MSNBC here. Both carry commentary by NSBA’s General Counsel Francisco Negron.

BoardBuzz is happy to report the Supreme Court handed down this morning its decision in the notorious Bong Hits 4 Jesus case, Morse v. Frederick. Ruling for the Juneau, Alaska School District and its Principal, Deborah Morse, the court found that Joseph Frederick’s free speech rights were not violated when Principal Morse took Frederick’s 14-foot banner emblazoned with the now-famous quote. The court’s decision had two primary holdings: First, that student freedom of speech is not co-extensive with the rights of adults, and second that schools are different and can regulate pro-drug messages. The Court expressly weighed the danger of drug use more highly than the student’s First Amendment claim, appearing to give increased consideration to the notion that schools have a role in maintaining student welfare. In fact, writing for the majority, Chief Justice Roberts brought a sobering realism to the court’s decision, rejecting theoretical arguments about free speech for the reality of the very real danger of the scourge of drug use, which he said was “serious and palpable.” Hear, hear.

The decision although boasting a strong majority in the judgment (6 justices in all), had 3 Justices dissenting in full and 1 dissenting in part. BoardBuzz is flummoxed. Is this 5-4? Or 6-3? And, it seems at least one justice, Justice Thomas is willing to do away with the Tinker standard altogether! What a day. Justice Alito, however, warns his vote is dependent on the limitation of the decision to regulating drug messages, and cautions the Court not to go to far down the path that would allow school districts unfettered discretion to regulate speech on the basis of the “educational mission.”

The decision also puts to rest the question of whether the Alaska public school principal was personally liable for damages for allegedly violating a students free speech rights when she disciplined a student for holding up a banner saying “Bong Hits 4 Jesus” at an off-campus, school-sanctioned, school-related event. Since it ruled for the school district and the principal, the Court did not reach question of qualified immunity. That means Principal Morse is not personally liable. BoardBuzz is happy to report the even the three-justice dissent would not find Principal Morse personally liable.

So, BoardBuzz celebrates today. Educators and administrators across the nation can sleep well tonight, comfortable in the conviction that they do not have to fear personal legal reprisals when they act in good faith to implement school board policies designed to protect students by prohibiting messages promoting drug use!

You can read previous BoardBuzz coverage of this here, here, here, and here. Check out NSBA‘s press release on the case here.