Free speech delayed is free speech denied By Rachel Rivera I applaud the determination of 12-year-old Natalie Jones in standing up for her free speech rights and I praise the ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties for coming to her defense. Natalie's class presentation was put on hold after Mount Woodson Elementary School Principal Theresa Grace and the Ramona Unified School District decided her report about San Francisco political leader Harvey Milk was too "sensitive" to share with her sixth-grade class without parental permission. Milk was the first openly gay elected official in the United States. Natalie's project told about Milk's accomplishments while he served as San Francisco city commissioner and city supervisor, including his gay rights activism. Grace and the district superintendent told Bonnie Jones, Natalie's mother, that the presentation fell under the board's Family Life/Sex Education policy, according to a letter sent by the ACLU to the school district. "The presentation was not about sex education. It was about an important figure in history who was gay," ACLU Legal Director David Blair-Loy wrote in an e-mail. The point of the project was to tell about a person or topic of the student's choice. Natalie was only trying to complete a presentation, and the actions of the school turned the situation into a public affair. "This was a case of illegal censorship. The school had no legal right to stop Natalie from giving her presentation to her class. I'm glad the school district recognized the mistake and apologized," said Blair-Loy. Principal Grace had originally said to Jones' family that the school was just "exercising an abundance of caution." In a later apology letter to Natalie, she wrote, "A person's sexual orientation is not sufficient to require parental permission to participate in a class or view a student's presentation." The relevant Education Code Section 48907 says, "Students of the public schools shall have the right to exercise freedom of speech and of the press." The ACLU cited this section in a previous student case last year. During the anti-gay marriage Proposition 8 campaign, Grossmont Union High School didn't allow students to wear political opinion buttons or display stickers. The ACLU of San Diego sent a warning letter emphasizing student free speech rights and the district reconsidered. On March 9, Natalie presented her project on Milk to the entire class. She was able to identify with the political figure. "Harvey Milk always stood up for his beliefs and what was right, so I felt like I should do the same thing when my school told me they wouldn't let me do my presentation," according to an ACLU news release. Natalie's teacher gave her a score of 49 out of 50 on her project. Her efforts and determination should be taken into account when calculating her final grade. • • • Vox is the newspaper of the 2009 CCNMA-San Diego Multicultural Journalism Workshop. Return to index | See also: Vox on Blogspot