Labor & Employment Law

District violated teacher?s free speech rights by prohibiting him from displaying classroom banners with religious references

Johnson v. Poway Unified Sch. Dist., ___F.Supp. 2d____ (S.D. Cal. Feb. 25, 2010), is an interesting case. A federal district court ruled that school district officials violated a high school teacher?s free speech rights because it censored his expression that, in its judgment, reflected Judeo-Christian views while allowing other teachers to express views on a number of controversial subjects, including religion and anti-religion.

Plaintiff had displayed two banners in his classroom for 20 years, one with the phrases ?In God We Trust,? ?One Nation Under God,? ?God Bless America,? and ?God Shed His Grace On Thee,? and the other with the phrase ?All Men Are Created Equal, They Are Endowed By Their CREATOR.? Under the school's long-standing policy allowing teachers to display personal messages on classroom walls, the district had allowed materials such as rock band posters, posters of professional athletes, posters with Buddhist and Islamic messages, and Tibetan prayer flags. Although the district had received no complaints about the banners, in January 2007 the principal ordered him to remove them after an inquiry from a fellow teacher.

The district court granted plaintiff's motion for summary judgment on all claims. It held that the teacher was entitled to a declaration that the school had violated his rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution and Article I, §§ 2 and 4 of the California Constitution. He was awarded him nominal damages, along reasonable attorney?s fees and costs.

The court characterized the banners as ?personal patriotic? expressions and that there was no danger that a reasonable observer viewing the banners would think that the district was endorsing a particular religion, church or creed because the school district was also permitting teachers to display other religious messages and anti-religious messages on the classroom walls.

The decision reviews all the major First Amendment cases.

Full post as published by New York Public Personnel Law on April 12, 2010 (boomark / email).