According to the National Coalition Against Censorship, " The First Amendment safeguards the right of every American to speak and think freely. Its promise of freedom of expression and inquiry is important to educators and students. The First Amendment protects educators' ability to exercise their judgment in accordance with professional standards and provides the latitude to create learning environments that effectively help young people acquire the knowledge and skills needed to become productive, self-sufficient, and contributing members of society."
Just as all Americans are disappointed in how media and government have been unable to provide a free and fair internet playing field, educators and students find it difficult in their world to be honest, open and able to speak up and express themselves without censorship and repercussions.
JOHNSON COUNTY, KANSAS
For example, in 2018, in Shawnee Mission, Kansas, the "ACLU sued the district in federal court on behalf of three students and parents the district responded with a motion for the court to dismiss the lawsuit. " [Then] the ACLU has responded with a 33-page document asking the court to allow the case to continue forward."
The suit accused "the district of 'totalitarian-style censorship tactics' to suppress students' political speech on campus "merely to avoid controversy or discomfort.'"
Lauren Bonds, ACLU's legal director said, "Instead of simply acknowledging their violation of student First Amendment rights, the district appears to be doubling down on the mistakes they've made."
WYANDOTTE COUNTY, KANSAS
Later, in this same year a teacher, who had been vocal against the runaway duck and cover shooting drills at school spoke out and shared his distaste for the lack of focus on making schools really safe by reducing guns in Kansas City, Kansas and the United States. This same teacher in the same autumn of 2018 applied to teach the college level government and USA history classes in the Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools.
The teacher eventually found his application to teach social studies turned down, and immediately thereafter began to be harassed by the dean, a principal and other administrators, whom were obviously now aware of the teachers' vocally supporting progressive issues and civil/human rights (and development)in America and in American foreign policy practices around the world.
His Facebook profile, friends and family and others were looked into. Meanwhile, the teacher had over 400 blogs on such issues as immigrant rights and arguing against the school to prison pipeline system. (This same teacher noted that as early as 1991 he had been harassed out of working in western Kansas due to his opposition to the prison pipeline and his opposing the USA War in Iraq.)
Finally, the harassment of the teacher took new and vicious turns in January 2019. First, someone employing an email address from US military personnel in Afghanistan began to contact family and friends on his Facebook account and saying terrible things about this instructor and indicating everyone needed to defriend him. The basic line was that the teacher was dangerous and was un-American, etc.
That very same month, the instructor was suddenly placed on administrative leave on the most feeble of trumped-up charges. In Spring 2019, the school district finally forced the teacher out of the district without giving him due process.
CENSORSHIP OF STUDENT MEDIA
The Southern Poverty Law Center notes: " Censorship of student media is pervasive across the United States, despite the lack of substantial qualitative data to confirm a recent uptick in cases, media scholars and researchers say. "
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