Current event 1

Fox News reported that last year Alison Hair, an area mother and member of the parents group Mama Bears, attended a Forsyth County School District (FSC) school board meeting.

1) give a short synopsis of the event, 2) research and share related case law, regulation, and statutesthat relate to the event.

#01

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Educational Law and Policy

Tiara Mensinger

She objected to her son’s middle school library making available the book Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close due to its sexual content.

FORSYTH COUNTY, Georgia (LifeSiteNews) – A public school district in Georgia was ordered to pay six-figure legal fees after a lawsuit filed by a group of concerned parents who clashed with the school board over pornographic material in the middle school library.

Georgia school district pays $100k to settle lawsuit with mom who exposed explicit library book

Fri Feb 24, 2023 - 5:31 pm EST

A win for the Mama Bears in Forsyth County.

+Citation

Current EventJune 10, 2023

“Humans are the only animal that blushes, laughs, has religion, wages war, and kisses with lips. So in a way, the more you kiss with lips, the more human you are.”

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Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

In his book Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Jonathan Safran Foer narrates the tale of Oskar Schell, a little kid who lost his father in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Oskar is a bright and brilliant boy who finds it difficult to accept the loss of his father. He goes on a journey to find the lock that the key fits after finding it in his father's closet. He encounters a wide range of people who aid in his understanding of his father's life and death as well as his own grieving process. The book is a moving examination of love, grief, and the human condition.

Jonathan Safran Foer

She tried again the following month, and FSC sent her a letter banning her from future school board meetings, claiming she was in violation of the district’s public participation policy.

Hair began to read a passage describing oral sex but was interrupted and blocked from speaking further.

FCS agreed to pay the Mama Bears nominal damages of $17.91 and IFS a sum of $107,500 in legal fees. The board also “voted on a new public participation policy that was approved on Monday removing the language that speakers must conduct themselves respectfully,”

Hair and Mama Bears enlisted the Institute for Free Speech (IFS) to represent them in a lawsuit filed last July. In November, a federal judge sided with them, forbidding the district from preventing any “current or future FCS speakers entitled to speak at an FCS school board meeting, from reading or quoting verbatim from the text

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First

Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier

This decision established that school officials may control speech that is covered in the curriculum, for example what is printed in the school newspaper.

1988

Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District

This case proved that entering a school does not mean that a person loses their First Amendment rights. However, schools may regulate speech that interrupts the educational process.

1969

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Georgia open meetings laws

These rules mandate that school board meetings be open to the public and for public participation, which may include statements regarding the freedom of expression of the board of education.

Section 1983 of the Civil Rights Act of 1871

This statute gives citizens the ability to bring legal claims against public servants, including school board members, for infringing their constitutional rights.