Schools

Santorum Situation Draws Criticism from 16

A small, concentrated group shared criticism Monday night with the Grosse Pointe Public School Board on Rick Santorum's planned visit/speech at South High School. Meanwhile, one local attorney says the issue is not freedom of speech.

Approximately 16 people spoke Monday to the Grosse Pointe Public School board about , and the district's decisions regarding his visit--decisions that gained heavy media attention last week. 

Those who spoke generally had the same message: allow Santorum to speak as an educational opportunity for students, stop making the visit into something political and allow students exposure to a variety of viewpoints.

Santorum's visit came under heavy scrutiny last week when district officials received information about his speech--slated to be about leadership and community service--would contain information about political hot-button topics which led to the cancelation of the event. The next day the speech was reinstated. 

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His visit is the work of students from the South chapter of Young Americans for Freedom, an organization for conservative students supported by a national organization who is footing the bill. 

Most of those who spoke were the parents of the students originally responsible for bringing Santorum to South from Young Americans for Freedom plus the students themselves including: Peter Fox, Grant Strobl, Langston Bowens and their parents. Additionally other parents who have children involved in the student organization spoke and a few unrelated people spoke but not all were well informed about what had transpired leading up to Monday.

Find out what's happening in Grosse Pointewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

In addition to the speakers, the audience was filled with others who supported the speakers--often giving a stand ovation at the end of each comment. 

To start Monday's meeting, Grosse Pointe Public School Board President Joan Dindoffer shared a statement in which she "expressed regret for confusion" caused by the district's initial decision to cancel the speech and then to reinstate it. She said the board supports freedom of thought and speech and "dedicated to students becoming critical thinkers."

Superintendent Tom Harwood also apologized for the confusion and said he accepts responsibility for the "bumbs in the scheduling and mechanics of the event." He went on to say the district does not want to create any "barriers" for students to attend the speech.

Ultimately the district reinstated the speech, which is scheduled for April 24 with an "opt-in" option for parents who will sign for their children if they want to attend the assembly. 

Teachers have been instructed to not give tests on the day of the assembly so as to not cause conflicts related to attendance--a point highlighted by parents, who said some teachers were sheduling tests on purpose to prevent attendance.

Some of the parents also took issue with the district's "compromise" with the opt-in format, allowing parents to sign a permission slip for their child to attend the speech. Parents said generally in the past, the events have been held in an "opt-out" manner requiring parents to sign if they did not want their child to attend. 

The student leaders of the North and South chapters of Young Americans for Freedom also urged the district to open the assembly to parents and students from Grosse Pointe North High School. The event, however, is not open to attendance by others because it is being held during the school day. 

While much of the conversation has related to freedom of speech in connection with the cancelation, at least one local attorney told Patch that is not the issue. 

Gary Wilson said that Santorum should be able to speak but after school hours. Wilson, a local attorney from Wilson and Cain PA who is well-versed in constitutional issues, said Friday the decision to allow Santorum to speak as planned during school hours opens the district up to having to say yes to any individual or group wishing to speak to the students.

Freedom of speech, Wilson said, "has always been subject by time, place and manner restrictions." 

For the district, its own policy, number 5730, had outlined the restrictions, Wilson said. But by allowing Santorum to speak during the school day the administration is not following its own policy, essentially making it powerless going forward, he said.

The policy to which he referred is one that restricts use of school facilities by student groups, sanctioned or unsanctioned groups, during instructional hours. The second sentence of the policy says: "During non-instructional time, however, no group of students, regardless of the size of the group, will be denied an opportunity to meet on the basis of the religious, political, philosophical, or other content of the activity."

Now that the speech is being allowed to happen during school hours after it was reinstated earlier this week, the question will become how often will the district have to create space and time for speakers wishing to address the students, he said.

The solution would have been to allow it to happen after school hours per the policy, he said. "Had the administration followed policies, the whole free speech argument is irrelevant because it's not talking about content," he said.

"It's not about (Santorum's) views," Wilson said. "It's about if you let one, you have to let all."

Dindoffer said the board will be reviewing policies in the coming months to ensure clarity and understanding within the district about student organizations, use of facilities and more. She said the policies will be reviewed to ensure each are fair, applied consistently and enhance educational opportunities. 


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