Press Release: 12/6/2018
Contact: Skip Murphy ( skipm@metrocast.net)
School District Governance Association of New Hampshire
First Amendment Rights in School District Governance
The SDGA holds that the preexisting Rights enumerated in the First Amendment are sacrosanct and must never be infringed upon even in difficult situations such as we see taking place with the Manchester School Board (“MSB”). We speak of MSB members castigating another member for using the District’s email system in factually correcting an 18 year old student’s Op-ed that criticized the current teacher contract negotiations that was published both the student newspaper and an outside media website.
We side with the First Amendment in all cases – it is what distinguishes America from almost all other nations in allowing the free flow of ideas without Government coercion. It either holds true in all cases or merely becomes a privilege doled out by those in power – which the MSB members seemingly are doing. Thus, we speak out in defense of Rachel Phelan’s Right to Free Speech in her right to criticize the MSB’s efforts during this contract negotiation.
Similarly, we also speak out in defense of Rich Girard’s exercising his Right to Free Speech as an individual citizen in responding to Phelan’s Op-Ed to correct misrepresentations. We disagree with those MSB members that are castigating him for it as constructive criticism should always be part of a conversation. They mistakenly believe that one “hangs up” their Free Speech Right simply for winning an election; they are wrong. We oppose any efforts of the MSB to silence such speech where there is dissent among members. Such an action is coerced speech either in directed word or enforced silence. This is antithetical to American philosophy and we rebuke the MSB as a poor example of role model to students in adherence to one of our most precious ideals.
School Boards, at all times, must inherently be mindful of this dichotomy of opposing views and the protection of such. We reject the incipient notion of “Power Imbalance” that some have applied in trying to deflect any criticism of Phelan’s Op-Ed and have, instead, criticized Girard for falling afoul of such “political correctness”.
We also look harshly upon the family’s lawyer who threatened Girard’s Freedom of Speech – we hope that the MSB will vigorously and jealously defend Girard’s Right in this matter.
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The School District Governance Association of NH is a non-profit organizations dedicated to the mission of helping School Board and Budget Committee members in rediscovering their statutory Powers. Former and current School Board and Budget Committee members are urged to join as well as other citizens wishing to aid in this mission. More information at this link.
