Re: Cupertino case dismissed

Tue, 16 Aug 2005 11:49:55 -0700

I haven't followed this case very carefully either, Alan. And I don't know if I'm "breaking ranks" with conservative judges or whether theyare breaking ranks with me. I am much more of a libertarian than a conservative anyway.
 
But, of course, government schools and their monopoly over educational funding create difficult problems for both conservatives and libertarians. Whose liberties count? Those of elected school boards? Administrators? Teachers? Students? Parents?
 
When religious parents complain about the public school curriculum they are often told they should leave if they don't like what their children are being taught. It seems like heads you win tails we lose in these curriculum disputes. This is why I think school choice is the only way to justly distribute educational benefits in a pluralistic society.
 
School choice allows everyone more liberty. Teachers, like Mr. Williams, will have more choices for employment. Parents and students can choose how secular or how religious they want their school to be.
 
What I do know is that many people of faith do not feel welcome--either as teachers or as students and parents--in the government schools.
 
I am so glad that PILFs like ADF, Liberty Counsel, Becket, and the ACLJ exist to defend the right of people of faith in public schools and in the public square.
 
Perhaps Mr. Williams' handouts were over the top. I don't know. But I do know from personal experience that many Christian teachers are afraid to discuss religion in their classes. They fear any mention of religion (particularly of the Christian religion) in their classes will result in parents complaining and in administrators cracking down. So even if ADF was too agressive in this case, I applaud them for their willingness to defend teachers who wish to recognize the importance of religion in the history and culture of America.
 
Rick Duncan

"A.E. Brownstein" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
I'm not at all as confident as Rick is that "It is always good to stand up
for the academic freedom of teachers," particularly when they are
presenting one-sided religious or political programs in their classrooms
and refuse to accept the curricular guidelines of their school. Perhaps
Rick is breaking ranks here, but most conservative judges, including
several on the President's short list of potential Supreme Court nominees,
take a very different position on the academic freedom of high school
teachers. See, e.g. the Wilkinson and Luttig concurrences in Boring v.
Buncombe County Bd. of Educ, 136 F.3d 364 (1998)

I do not know all the details of the Williams litigation. But I have yet
to read a case involving attempts to teach students about the role of
religion in American history in which any attempt at a balanced
presentati! on is being advanced. No one seems to want to discuss the
obvious reality that religious individuals and groups have been on both
sides of every historical conflict: that the loyalists who supported George
III and ridiculed ideas of popular sovereignty were at least as devout as
their more revolutionary counterparts, that Confederate leaders and slave
holders were as religious as the abolitionists, that religion was employed
to justify social darwinism as well as progressive movements of reform --
and the list goes on. Religious beliefs were used to justify the most
shameful periods in American history and our most noble achievements.

There are many different inferences about America and religion that can be
drawn from that history. But that's always true of history.

Alan Brownstein
UC Davis





At 07:38 AM 8/16/2005 -0700, you wrote:
>Here is the ADF take on the settlement:
>
>CUPERTINO, Ca! lif. - Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund and the
>Cupertino Union School District filed a settlement agreement today in the
>lawsuit Williams v. Vidmar.
>
>"We are pleased that this matter has been resolved to the satisfaction of
>all parties," said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Kevin Theriot. "The school
>district is to be commended for agreeing that their policy allows
>teachers, no matter what their religious beliefs, to use handouts of
>historical significance that have religious content, like the Declaration
>of Independence."
>
>ADF attorneys filed the lawsuit in federal court against the district in
>November of last year on behalf of a teacher at Stevens Creek Elementary
>School. The lawsuit alleged that school officials prohibited him, as an
>orthodox Christian, from providing supplemental handouts to students about
>American history because the historical documents cont! ain some references
>to God and religion.
>
>The sett! lement agreement puts in writing district policy that "allows
>teachers, no matter what their religious beliefs, to use appropriate
>educational material (including supplemental handouts of historical
>significance) during instructional time that has religious content" and
>also allows teachers "to teach students during instructional time about
>matters involving religion" so long as the content is compliant with
>district-prescribed curriculum and is not used to influence a student's
>religious beliefs.
>
>The full text of the settlement agreement can be read at
>www.telladf.org/UserDocs/WvVsettlement.pdf.
>
>
>
>I am not sure that ADF agrees that this lawsuit did not accomplish its
>goal. Let's see how this works out in the Mr. Williams' classroom this
>! Fall. It is always good to stand up for the academic freedom of teachers,
>whether their names be Scopes or Williams.
>
>Cheers, Rick Duncan
>
>
>
>Ed Brayton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote:
>The lawsuit against the Stevens Creek Elementary School in Cupertino,
>California, brought by teacher Steven Williams and the Alliance Defense
>Fund has been withdrawn as a result of a settlement. This was the infamous
>"Declaration of Independence banned from classroom" (a complete falsehood
>used in the ADF's press release announcing the suit) case which involved a
>principal telling a teacher that he could not use a bunch of handouts and
>supplemental materials in his 5th grade classroom after complaints from
>numerous parents that Williams was proselytizing for his religious views
>during class. Those materials contained a bunch of outright fraudulent
>material, including several ! false quotations and at least one entirely
>forged document.
>
> You can see the settlement
> here. The settlement
> is essentially an ! admission that the basis for the suit was false in
> the first place, as it recognizes that District policy already allows
> teachers to speak about or use supplemental materials that discuss
> matters of a religious nature as long as the content is "objective, age
> appropriate and in compliance with the curriculum prescribed by the
> district", and further that the school administration has the final say
> on what does and does not meet that standard. It's nice to see the ADF
> come to their senses in the case, which was based upon distortions and
> should never have been brought in the first place.
>
>Ed Brayton
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>
>Rick Duncan
>Welpton Professor of Law
>University of Nebraska College of Law
>Lincoln, NE 68583-0902
>
>"When the Round Table is broken every man must follow either Galahad or
>Mordred: middle things are gone." C.S.Lewis, Grand Miracle
>
>"I will not be pushed, filed, s! tamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or
>numbered." --The Prisoner
>
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