News & Commentary

The Rhode Island ACLU has asked the R.I. Supreme Court to review an appeal that raises fundamental questions about the legality of the procedures used by so-called “truancy courts” that have sprung up across the state in recent years. The ACLU brief filed in the case argues that essential due process safeguards are absent from the operation of these courts.

In an important victory for students’ free speech rights, R.I. Department of Education hearing officer Paul Pontarelli issued an opinion today, approved by Commissioner Peter McWalters, agreeing with the ACLU of Rhode Island that the Portsmouth School Committee acted in an “arbitrary and capricious” manner in rejecting the planned yearbook photo of high school senior Patrick Agin on the grounds that it violated the school district’s “zero tolerance” policy for weapons. In the photo, Patrick is dressed in a medieval chain mail coat with a prop sword over his shoulder, representing his long-standing interest in medieval history. Patrick is a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism, an organization that promotes research and reenactments of medieval history.

The ACLU of Rhode Island today filed a lawsuit on behalf of Portsmouth High School senior Patrick Agin, whose planned yearbook photo was rejected by the principal on the grounds that it violates the school district’s “zero tolerance” policy for weapons. In the photo, Patrick is dressed in a medieval chain mail coat with a prop sword over his shoulder, representing his long-standing interest in medieval history. Patrick is a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism, an organization that promotes research and reenactments of medieval history.

The Rhode Island ACLU today criticized the “criminalization of student thought” as exemplified by a story in today’s Providence Journal, describing a middle-school student in West Warwick who was visited by police and the Secret Service because of an essay he wrote.

The RI ACLU today commended the issuance this week of a state Department of Education advisory to all school district superintendents, reminding them of their obligation to protect the privacy rights of students in interactions with military recruiters. The advisory, issued by DOE Commissioner Peter McWalters, follows a survey the ACLU released in August, showing that many local school districts did not have proper procedures in place to inform parents and students about their legal right to control the release of student information to the military.

The ACLU of Rhode Island has taken legal action against the Foster-Glocester School District for violating the state’s open records law. The lawsuit, filed in Superior Court yesterday by ACLU volunteer attorney Karen Davidson, charges that district officials failed to respond to four requests from the ACLU for documents involving its compliance with a provision in the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law.

As part of a national campaign aimed at combating questionable federally-funded abstinence-only-until-marriage curricula in the public schools, the ACLU of Rhode Island has called on the state Department of Education to review one such program in the state. The ACLU said that the curriculum, called “Right Time, Right Place,” raises serious privacy and discrimination concerns.

As students head back to school, the R.I. ACLU said today that a survey of school district practices across the state shows that many districts are not fully protecting the privacy rights of students in interactions with military recruiters. In a letter sent to school district superintendents across the state, the Rhode Island ACLU urged administrators to improve their procedures to inform parents and students about their right to control the release of student information to the military.

Administrators at Central High School in Providence have allowed sophomore Eliazar Velasquez to return to school after the student was suspended last week for posting photographs of the school principal on a personal website. The photographs depicted principal Elaine Almagno smoking a cigarette on school grounds, in direct violation of state law.