UPDATED: Parent Files Federal Lawsuit Against Portland Public Schools

Monday, December 15, 2014

Taya Alami, GoLocalPDX Reporter

The parent of two public elementary school students in Portland has filed a lawsuit in federal court against Portland Public Schools for allegedly violating children’s Constitutional rights to free-speech.

The complaint, originally filed in Portland federal court Nov. 25, accused the school district of violating students' First and Fourteenth Amendment rights after teachers refused to allow children to distribute a flyer.

The school allegedly stopped the two ten fifth graders from distributing a flyer that encouraged students to join the Beaverton Youth Track Club, on grounds that the students were violating board policies for distributing information, the complaint alleges.

The plaintiff in the suit is Portland attorney Bradley Ganz, who has been very active in his children’s schooling, supporting various events and school-sponsored initiatives by organizing other parents to volunteer.

Members of the Skyline School community were surprised to hear that Ganz was taking the district to court.

The problem at the school that led to the complaint was part of a systemic issue, Ganz said.

“There’s no prior restraint on student speech, yet the principle and the district are saying there is in this case,” Ganz said. “You can’t yell fire — but we’re talking about a secular sports group here.”

The principle of Skyline School, Jill Sage, is named a co-defendant in the suit. Ganz claims that some of the tension at the school can be attributed to Sage having a personal bias against athletics, which has turned off a number of other parents while banning certain sports from being played at recess.

“This principle is anti-sports,” Ganz said. “Not only do they not let students engage in physical activity, but they’re institute policies that prevent students from learning.”

In an email to Sage, Ganz said that the school had no legal right to prohibit his kids from distributing the flyers. In her response, Sage stated that the distribution did in fact violate board policy, although she wrote that the students could post their flyers to the school’s communal bulletin board, according to court documents.

In an email to GoLocalPDX, Christine Miles, school district's public communication officer, stated that the district already has put a policy in place that allows for information about extracirricular activities to be disbributed to parents.

“Elementary school students have additional opportunities to share information, but we do not allow elementary school students to pass out flyers to other students during the school day because of the disruption this can cause, especially given the precious amount of time our teachers and staff have with students," the district said in a statement. "We worked hard to resolve Mr. Ganz's concerns when he brought them to our attention, but (we) respect his right to seek resolution through the judicial process.”

However, Ganz maintained that the policies that were put in place by the school board were created to restrict groups from coming to the school and influencing students, not students influencing their classmates.

“This lawsuit is not about changing the culture (at the school), Ganz said. “The main thing is that First Amendment rights need to be respected. Even school children have First Amendment rights.”

Ganz is suing for a change to board policies, and for any monetary relief pertaining to attorney fees and any costs that may be incurred, in addition to “any further relief the court deems proper.”