In March 2020, when the Gladstone School District announced it would \u2062transition to remote learning, Oregon\u200d mother Glenda\u2062 Scherer was concerned \u2063about the effect \u2064this\u2062 action would have on her daughter and special-needs son. <\/strong>She soon began to speak\u200d out, utilizing the\u200b district\u2019s social media pages and\u200c board meetings to ask questions\u200d and offer feedback.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t take long for the district to attempt to silence her. <\/p>\n

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Scherer explains \u2062it started with a virtual school board meeting<\/a> in July 2020. When she submitted a public comment\u200d that was critical of the district, it was not only disregarded during the\u2062 meeting but even excluded from the minutes. Although the board claimed \u2064it would consider her comments and address them at \u2062a later date,\u200d it never did. When the board muted Scherer, she changed her display name to \u201cUnheardparent\u201d \u2014\u200c a moniker she has since adopted on social media<\/a>, where she has a growing audience of 11.5K followers. <\/p>\n
The district escalated its online censorship campaign<\/a> by blocking her on Twitter, requiring her Facebook \u2064posts on a school page to be\u2064 preapproved \u2063by \u2064school personnel, and prohibiting her from tagging the district on social media. The district also sent Scherer a letter purporting to ban her from attending public school board \u2063meetings in person \u2014 unless and until the superintendent granted approval. <\/p>\n
Notably, the board also adopted \u2062a \u200dban \u2063on \u201ccomments regarding any individual district staff\u200c member\u201d \u2014 a policy\u200c it has interpreted\u200b so broadly as to prohibit any criticism of board members or high-level district employees, even if only referenced by title. This policy silenced Scherer even\u2063 as she \u2062sought answers about the district\u2019s\u2064 failure \u200cto discipline an employee who had been investigated for abusing her 5-year-old son.<\/p>\n
At the time, Scherer reported to local media<\/a> that she received a vague letter stating that school personnel had used \u201ca restraint\u201d on her son,\u2063 but could \u2062not obtain further documentation \u200dof the incident. Scherer was then excluded from a debrief meeting on the incident, even though Oregon law requires that parents be invited to attend such meetings. When she asked her son what had happened,\u2062 he \u200btalked about being dragged out of\u200c the room by his feet and told her, \u201cI want to go \u200bto a school where the teachers don\u2019t\u2062 hurt \u200cthe\u200c kids.\u201d <\/p>\n
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The Oregon\u200c DHS sent officials to investigate, but due\u200b to\u200b the narrow\u200c scope of the definition of \u201cchild abuse\u201d at the time, \u200cthey were unable to \u2062substantiate the claims.<\/p>\n
To add insult to injury, the \u200bdistrict kept that employee working in \u200cthe\u200c same classroom during\u200d the investigation and offered \u2064no other educational options for Scherer\u2019s son.<\/p>\n
Since then, the state of Oregon adopted Senate Bill 790<\/a>, which has expanded the definition of child abuse to \u200binclude restraints \u200band seclusion.\u2062 While this meaningful change will help parents seek justice for their children in the future, it does\u200b not change\u2064 what\u2064 happened to Scherer\u2019s son. <\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Gladstone School District is still\u2064 stonewalling her concerns, and its social\u2064 media \u200cand public hearing\u2063 policies continue to infringe\u200b on her constitutional right to free speech.<\/p>\n
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So when Scherer approached my organization, Liberty Justice Center<\/a> (LJC),\u2063 we were eager to take her case \u2014 LJC has a proud history of defending Americans\u2019 First \u200cAmendment rights and working to expand educational freedom. Both of those\u2063 principles \u2062are threatened when government officials collude to silence\u2064 parents who want to improve their\u2064 school districts.<\/p>\n
Gladstone School District\u2019s actions are\u2062 blatantly unconstitutional. The district\u2019s requirement\u2063 that comments\u2063 receive preapproval from school officials is a classic example of an \u2062unconstitutional prior\u2064 restraint<\/a>, and in a 2022 decision<\/a> soon to be considered by \u2063the Supreme \u2062Court, the Ninth Circuit Court held that school board\u200d members who \u200cblocked their critics on social media had violated the First \u2063Amendment.<\/p>\n
On a personal level, the policy I found most \u200doffensive was the district\u2019s ban on criticism of its own employees and\u2062 administrators \u2014 a type of\u2063 policy referred to by attorney \u2063Alan Gura<\/a> of the Free Speech Institute as \u2063\u201cthe Voldemort Rule: he who must not be named.\u201d This policy\u2062 struck a nerve because my own\u2063 political awakening occurred while observing school board meetings in middle school after my upstate New York school district voted to remove the\u200b name\u200b \u201cIndians\u201d from the\u2063 school\u2019s sports teams and replace it with\u2026 nothing. The controversy that ensued became so vicious that it was profiled by The New York\u200c Times<\/a> as a \u201cCatskills Culture War.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the Times accurately observed, those \u201cboard meetings\u2064 [were] loud and ugly, with names \u2062like \u2018racists\u2019 and \u2018freaks\u2019 flying freely.\u201d But, to\u200d the\u2062 board\u2019s credit, they allowed community members to \u200cspeak their minds,\u2062 engaging with irate parents\u2063 and students alike, and defending \u2062their position to the public. Voters ultimately had the final say, \u2062electing a new slate of board members\u2063 who voted to reinstate the team\u2019s name. <\/p>\n
To \u200dme and the other \u200bstudents in our rural school district<\/a>,\u200b the \u2062experience provided invaluable lessons on American principles like \u200bdemocracy, free speech, and government transparency. However, in Gladstone and elsewhere,\u2064 school districts are teaching students \u200ca different lesson \u2014 that \u200ddissent should be silenced and government officials should be insulated\u200b from criticism. This \u2062is wrong. <\/p>\n
Fortunately, parents and advocates like Scherer have been pushing back. For example, school officials in Broward\u2063 County, Florida, received an icy reception<\/a> from a panel \u200dof 11th Circuit judges skeptical of their censorship regime. Similarly, the Foundation for \u200dIndividual Rights and\u2063 Expression<\/a> recently stood up for parents in Teaneck, New Jersey, who were censored for criticizing their superintendent\u2019s response to the recent escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian\u2063 conflict. <\/p>\n
Ultimately, the First Amendment\u2064 protects the right of these parents\u200c to publicly criticize\u2062 their school districts, not just through vague references \u2064to policies but through frank and direct criticism\u200c of the administrators and educators\u200d implementing those policies. Accordingly, the Liberty Justice Center<\/a> has sent a\u200c demand letter<\/a> to \u2064Gladstone School District, calling on the district to immediately bring its \u200dsocial media and public\u200b comment policies and practices into compliance with the First Amendment.<\/p>\n
The ball is now\u200c in\u200b Gladstone\u2019s court. \u200dIf they do not comply, Liberty Justice Center stands ready to vindicate Scherer\u2019s constitutional rights in\u2064 federal court. <\/p>\n
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rnrn <\/p>\n
\u2064How can school districts ensure that they do not violate \u200dthe constitutional rights of parents\u200b and community members \u2062when it comes to expressing their opinions and concerns about their children’s\u2062 education?<\/h2>\n
\u200d Ently reversed their policy \u200bof banning critical comments on social media after facing backlash\u2064 from parents and legal challenges.\u200d This should serve\u200d as a reminder to school districts across the country that they cannot violate the constitutional rights\u200d of parents and community members.<\/p>\n
Parents have a fundamental right\u200b to express their\u200d opinions and concerns about their children’s \u200deducation. When schools\u200c try to silence these voices, they undermine \u2063the democratic process and hinder transparency and\u200d accountability. It \u2062is vital\u2063 that parents\u200b continue to stand up for their \u2063rights\u200d and fight against censorship\u2063 and intimidation.<\/p>\n
In Scherer’s case, the Liberty Justice Center has filed a\u2063 lawsuit\u200c on her behalf, challenging the\u2064 Gladstone \u2062School District’s unconstitutional policies. We \u200care confident that\u200b the court will uphold the principles of free speech and hold the district \u2064accountable for \u200bits actions. \u2062We hope that this case\u2063 will serve as \u2062a precedent and discourage other school districts \u200bfrom engaging \u2062in similar practices.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, \u200dthe goal should\u200c be to create an educational system that\u2062 welcomes and values the\u200d input of parents and community members. Constructive criticism and open dialogue are essential\u200d for\u200d improving our\u2064 schools and ensuring that all \u200cstudents receive the education \u2062they deserve. School districts should embrace this \u2062feedback \u200drather \u2064than trying to suppress it.<\/p>\n
As we move forward, it is crucial that\u200d we protect \u2064and uphold the \u2062rights of parents and\u2062 community members. The First\u200b Amendment exists to guarantee our freedom of\u2064 speech, \u2062and it is the responsibility of all Americans to defend and preserve this fundamental \u2064right.\u2063 Together, we can ensure that our \u200dvoices are \u2063heard and that our \u200cschools provide the best possible education for\u2064 our children.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In March 2020, the Gladstone School District’s shift to remote learning worried Glenda Scherer, an Oregon mother with a special-needs son and daughter. To address her concerns, she actively voiced her opinions and sought answers through the district’s social media platforms and board meetings<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2813,"featured_media":2165797,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/pexels-pixabay-289740-scaled.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2165796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/pexels-pixabay-289740-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2165796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2813"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2165796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2165796\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2165797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2165796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2165796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2165796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}