Today the ACLU of Michigan sent a letter to Utica Academy for International Studies urging school officials to rescind a rule barring students from holding “political” signs during demonstrations against gun violence. The letter also encourages the principal to apologize to students who were suspended after displaying gun reform signs at the March 14 protest, and to honor students’ free speech rights during future protests.

Read our letter

 “School officials should be praising, not punishing, students for engaging in the democratic process and seeking reform following the massacre of their peers in Florida,” said Michael J. Steinberg, legal director of the ACLU of Michigan. “It’s hard to imagine a more unconstitutional school rule than one that punishes students for displaying political signs during demonstrations.”

Leading up to the national student walkout on March 14, the Utica Academy administration sent a letter to students setting forth rules for the event, including pre-approved chants, slogans and posters. The letter said signs with alternative messages had to be approved by school officials and that “NO political messages will be allowed/approved.” The letter said that any students violating these rules could “face disciplinary action.”

A handful of students peacefully carried signs advocating gun control that had not been pre-approved. One sign, carried by junior Meghan Biernat, said, “Thoughts & Prayers Don’t Save Lives. Gun Reform Will.” Another sign, carried by junior Elizabeth Voytas, urged students to call U.S. Senators Stabenow and Peters and gave their phone numbers.  The school suspended Biernat, Voytas and several other students who did not conform to the protest rules.   

"Students across the country are making a difference by standing up and demanding action to prevent more mass shootings,” said Ms. Biernat. “We have a right to demand gun reform without school administrators censoring our speech and sanitizing our protests. Although our school mantra is about creating leaders, the administration made it clear when they suspended us that they would rather mold the student body into sheep. We hope the school does the right thing and repeals the ban on political signs before Friday's protest."

The ACLU letter reminded school officials that nearly 50 years ago, Supreme Court ruled in the landmark case of Tinker v. Des Moines School District that students don’t “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.” The decision established that students were free to engage in political speech, even if controversial, so long as it did not cause a “substantial or material disruption.”

Although the Utica Academy administration eventually removed the suspensions from the records of the suspended students, the ACLU letter states that the suspensions have had a chilling effect on freedom of expression at the school. As a remedy, the letter urges the administration to apologize to the suspended students, rescind the no-political speech rule, and honor the constitutional rights of all students at protests in the future. The next national school day of action to prevent gun violence is this Friday, the anniversary of the Columbine High School massacre.

DETROIT - Attorneys for Flint schoolchildren have reached a historic agreement with the Michigan Department of Education (MDE), Genesee Intermediate School District (GISD) and Flint Community Schools (FCS) to establish an unprecedented program to provide universal screening, and in-depth assessments when necessary, to all Flint children impacted by the Flint water crisis.

Read the settlement

The program will leverage the Flint Registry, a population-wide screening platform, and expanded assessment services by the Genesee Health System/Hurley Children’s Hospital Neurodevelopmental Center of Excellence (NCE). The program will be organized and operated under the leadership of Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, Director of the Michigan State University-Hurley Children’s Hospital Pediatric Public Health Initiative, and will begin at the start of the 2018-19 school year.

“The children and families of Flint have lived with exposure to lead in their water and with schools unequipped to help students whose learning may be affected by this dangerous neurotoxin,” said Greg Little, Chief Trial Counsel at Education Law Center (ELC). “The program set up in the agreement announced today is a major milestone on the road to addressing the needs of children affected by the Flint water crisis.”

The settlement agreement is a major step in DR, et al. v. MDE, et al., a class action lawsuit filed on behalf of Flint children asserting violations of federal and state special education laws. The settlement will be final after an April 12 court hearing in Detroit, subject to court approval.

The lawsuit challenges systemic deficiencies in Flint’s special education program, including failures to find and serve children with special needs and to address the impact of the water crisis, which potentially put thousands of children at risk of developing a disability or worsening an existing disability. The settlement addresses a major aspect of the special education failures in the Flint schools: the need to identify all students with disabilities and properly evaluate them.

The agreement has several key elements:

1. The state of Michigan will provide more than $4 million to get the program up and running by September 2018. Families of Flint children exposed to elevated lead levels in the Flint drinking water can enroll their children in the Registry, complete a screening, and have their children referred for further assessment by the NCE. The battery of available assessments will include neuropsychological testing, which is important for evaluating the effects of lead on cognitive development, memory and learning.

2. The state, city and school district will provide staff to facilitate and maximize participation in the program and collaboration between the program and the schools.

​3. Training and professional development will be provided for administrators, teachers and staff on the availability of the program and how to recognize children potentially harmed by lead who may need to be referred for assessments.

Importantly, results of the assessments will be sent to the schools to be used in the process of evaluating students for special education services.

“The settlement is a critical first step in creating a system to identify the needs of the children of Flint,” said Kristin Totten, ACLU of Michigan Education Attorney. “However, the heart of this lawsuit remains, which is ensuring kids with disabilities receive the education guaranteed them by law. As we move forward, we are fully committed to protecting those rights.”

“This is a groundbreaking program, using the most advanced testing available, that represents the first step in an unprecedented solution to an unprecedented crisis,” said Lindsay Heck, an attorney at White & Case. “The partnership created between the medical profession and the schools recognizes that education is the antidote to the crisis that Flint children have endured. In the next phase of the lawsuit we will work to ensure that FCS schools have the resources to provide the children of Flint with the educational opportunities they deserve and to which they are entitled under the law.”

The agreement is a partial settlement of the lawsuit. The attorneys for the Flint parents and children will continue to pursue additional claims, including the provision of appropriate special education services and proper student discipline procedures. 

The legal team representing the students pro bono includes attorneys from the ACLU of Michigan, Education Law Center, and global law firm White & Case LLP. The team is headed by ELC Chief Trial Counsel, Greg Little.

Today the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, the ACLU, the National Women’s Law Center and the Women’s Sports Foundation sent a letter to the National Collegiate Wrestling Association (NCWA) urging it to change its discriminatory policy that prohibits women, like University of Michigan-Dearborn student and national wrestling champion Marina Goocher, from competing against male wrestlers when women wrestlers and women’s teams are unavailable.

Read our letter to the NCWA

“Ever since I can remember, wrestling has been a central part of my life and my identity. When I enrolled in college, the wrestling coach and the wrestlers, all of whom were men, warmly welcomed me because they knew I could help the team win. But right now, as the wrestling season begins, I have to sit on the bench the entire regular season — simply because I am a woman,” said Goocher.

The NCWA governs club wrestling in college and under its current rule Goocher is only allowed to compete against other women. UM-Dearborn does not have a women’s team, and there are no other women wrestlers in her weight class in the entire Midwest region of the NCWA. Unless NCWA changes its policy and Goocher is able to compete against men, she won’t be able to compete for the entire season.

The UM-Dearborn men’s coach wants her to wrestle during the season with his team, and the team wants her to as well, but the NCWA rule prevents her from being able to. The only opportunity the NCWA gives Goocher to participate is in the women’s division of the post-season national club tournament, a tournament she has won the past two years. The letter maintains that the NCWA’s rule is discriminatory and opens up its member schools to legal liability.

“Women should be encouraged to compete in sports that they love and not be denied access just because they are women,” said Bonsitu Kitaba-Gaviglio, staff attorney at the ACLU of Michigan. “NCWA’s rule is based on antiquated and unfair gender stereotypes which courts across the country have struck down as discriminatory. By limiting Marina and other women wrestlers from competing, the NCWA is exposing member schools to potential lawsuits by forcing them to discriminate.”

In high school, Goocher surpassed 100 varsity career wins, all against males — a rare accomplishment for high school wrestlers, regardless of gender. She has earned four girls’ wrestling titles in her weight division from high school or younger, and two women’s titles in college, when she was able to wrestle women from teams outside her region.

High schools across the country allow women to wrestle men when there is no women’s wrestling team, and so does the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

Numerous prominent women athletes have successfully wrestled on men’s college teams and competed alongside their teammates, many of them defeating their male opponents. These include Olympian Kelsey Campbell (Arizona State), Olympic silver medalists Patricia Adura-Miranda (Stanford) and Sara McMann (Lock Haven University), World medalists Jenny Wong (Lock Haven), Jackie Berube (University of Wisconsin-Lacrosse), Debbie Weiss (Arizona State) and Afsoon Roshanzamir (UC-Davis), and World Team members Erin Tomeo (Lock Haven), Lauren Wolfe (Cornell), and Jenna Pavlik (Lock Haven).