Editorial Editorial (May 06, 2005)

Just say no to campaign buttons in schools

The school board seems to be in an ongoing quandary over whether to allow teachers to wear political campaign buttons in the classroom. Why can't the trustees follow the guidelines set in other school districts and at the state and local government levels - including the state of California and city of Pleasanton - and just say no? Campaign buttons worn by classroom teachers are intimidating to those who may not agree with the teacher's preferred choice, and confusing, if not emotionally disturbing, to children whose own parents may favor another candidate, or may even be in the election race themselves. Look at Royal Oaks, Mich., an affluent suburb north of Detroit, where classmates shunned a 10-year-old and his middle school sister because the teachers wore buttons endorsing their mother's opponent in a local school board race. The district now prohibits campaign buttons and literature on its school campuses. Or ask Marion Leach, a school board candidate four years ago who was turned away from going on site at Vintage Hills Elementary, which her children then attended. Teachers there were supporting candidates endorsed by their local union, the Association of Pleasanton Teachers, and Leach was not one of them.

Last week, the school board again failed to reach a consensus on the issue of politics in the classroom despite Supt. John Casey's concerns that politics and buttons in the classroom may make some students uncomfortable. He wants the buttons banned, but the teachers' union and four of the board members - all who enjoyed union support in their last elections - said not so fast. They want to see if teachers on their own will be more fair in the next election, now scheduled for 2006, than they were in 2003 when many wore buttons supporting Trustees Steve Pulido and Juanita Haugen, and even stuffed some teacher mailboxes with campaign literature. Trustee Kris Weaver, who didn't have union support in her first election to the board and didn't even seek it in 2003, wants classroom politics stopped.

Those who oppose a clampdown argue that the district could violate the First Amendment rights of teachers by dictating what they can say and wear when it comes to school board elections or other campaigns. But they seem to forget that they were on the opposite side of the argument when they told Nicholas Lassonde, a graduating salutatorian, that he had to refrain from specific religious content in his speech to the Class of 1999, in which he gave his views on salvation. Through Amador Valley High School Principal Bill Coupe, the school district asserted complete control over the ceremony, including prior approval of student speeches. Although Lassonde complied, he later sued the district with the help of outside conservative right organizations, with the district defending its right to set policy for its school campuses. Two years ago, after a costly legal fight, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the Pleasanton district, agreeing that it has the right to determine what can take place on its property.

The similarities between the salutatorian's speech and the campaign button issue are striking. The District, as the 9th Circuit ruled, has total control over the classroom and the teacher. Students, by law, must attend school, making them a captive audience for their teachers to influence. When so many teachers showed off their political views two years ago, some students may have thought that was also the school district's preference. Remember, too, it's the public's money that is being spent, so personal opinions and positions should be expressed off the campus, not during class time when we are paying the bill.

Given the budget deficits still facing California and the teachers' union's political agitation already against Gov. Schwarzenegger's plan for a slowdown in funding boosts for education, it's likely we'll see a trickle down impact on state candidate preferences in Pleasanton classrooms, as well as buttons for local favorites. It just seems amazing that the school board would be more concerned about what a graduating senior might say at his commencement, but continue to ignore a much larger problem of political campaigns in the classroom. It makes us wonder who's calling the shots on political guidelines.

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