Date:         Tue, 12 Jul 1994 12:10:05 -0400
From: PMDAtropos <pmdatropos@aol.com>

The following is copied with permission from the newsletter of the
American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas and Western Missouri, called,
confusingly for this context, *The Advocate.* It appeared in the issue for
Summer, 1994:

"Patrons of the Olathe, Kansas, school district near Kansas City --
including students, parents, and teachers -- are directly confronting the
efforts of the religious right to, "change society," in court today with
the help of the ACLU of Kansas and Western Missouri.

"The lawsuit, *Stevana Case et al. v. U.S.D. no. 233, Johnson County,
Kansas et al.,* stems from the December 14, 1993, order of Olathe
superintendent, Dr. Ron Wimmer, that copies of the book, *Annie on My
Mind,* be removed from the shelves of Olathe East and Olathe South High
School libraries, even though they had been available in the libraries
since the early 1980s.  Although the books had been part of each library's
general collection, and therefore available for voluntary reading or
checkout, they were not part of the curriculum or assigned reading for any
course taught in the district.

"An award-winning juvenile romance novel by Nancy Garden, *Annie on My
Mind* tells the story of two young women, Lisa and Annie, who 'meet at New
York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, fall in love, then find that a public
declaration is too threatening to their friends and relatives,' ALA
[American Library Association] Best Books for Young Adults, *Booklist,*
March 15, 1983.  The librarian who originally selected *Annie* for
purchase did so because the book had received significant professional
critical acclaim.  The book is available in other public school districts
in Kansas and western Missouri for the same reason.

"Four students, with the support of their parents, and a teacher from the
Olathe School District are the plaintiffs for ACLU.  In the face of
virulent opposition by the religious right, the students spoke eloquently
and forcefully at the January 7, 1994 school board meeting just prior to
the board's final action supporting censorship.

"Stevie Case, Olathe East High School student body president and lead
plaintiff, commented in March at an ACLU news conference, 'This is an
inappropriate attempt to ease controversy through the suppression of
information.  Political expedience does not excuse the abridgement of the
most basic rights of citizens as affirmed by our constitution.  If our
schools and our society are to be successful, academic freedom and access
to information must be maintained without exception."

"Plaintiff Amanda Greb added, 'Because I believed the actions of the
superintendent were wrong, and thinking the decision to be a temporary
mistake, I spoke before the school board two months ago urging them to
return the book.  They did not do so.  I met twice with the
superintendent.  Nothing happened.  I helped distribute a petition that
receive[d] the signatures of over half of our student body.  The Olathe
South Student Government passed a resolution.  The book was never
returned.  This lawsuit is not a first resort, but the last resort of
students who are willing to pay the price of eternal vigilance in order to
secure their freedoms.'

"The third plaintiff present at the March news conference, Sam Pierron,
emphasized that, 'this is not a political issue that can be labelled
*liberal* or *conservative.*  This is about our basic freedoms as
Americans.'

"The issues raised by the ACLU in the lawsuit are the removal of the book
*Annie on My Mind* from the current collections of two Olathe public
school libraries, the academic freedom claim of a teacher in the district,
and the claim of a student, who was prevented by the school district from
distributing pamphlets in school concerning the censorship of the book.

"The school district maintains that it has authority to prescribe what
students may or may not read.  However, the United States Supreme Court
has ruled that school officials are not above the Constitution and
particularly the First Amendment.

"In its landmark 1982 decision called *Board of Education v. Pico,* the
United States Supreme Court said that local school boards must exercise
their authority in a manner that is consistent with the First Amendment.

"In the *Pico* case, the Supreme Court found that students' First
Amendment rights are 'directly and sharply implicated by the removal of
books from the shelves of school libraries.'  The Court said that 'the
special characteristics of the school library make that environment
especially appropriate for the recognition of the First Amendment rights
of students.'

"According to the Supreme Court, school officials cannot remove books from
school libraries in order to deny students access to ideas ... local
school boards may not remove books from school library shelves simply
because they dislike the ideas contained in those books,' the Court said.

"ACLU contends that by removing *Annie on My Mind* from school libraries,
the Olathe School District is violating the First Amendment rights of
students and teachers in the district.

"The cooperating attorneys for ACLU are J. Eugene Balloun, John T.
Bullock, and David J. Waxse of the lawfirm Shook Hardy and Bacon, and
Marjorie Heins, director of the national ACLU Arts Censorship Project.
The cooperating attorneys are not paid for their time, which will be
substantial.  ACLU is responsible for all other costs in the case,
expected to be in the range of $10,000."

The article does not mention the fact that the radical rightists who
demanded that the book be removed actually held a book burning.  When
Nancy Garden read from her works at our local bookstore earlier this year
she described how horrified and sickened she was to read that her book had
been burned.  The ACLU office says that they have learned that the school
board and its backers tend to fight the suit tooth and nail.  I have the
impression that they now think that their costs will be considerably more
than the estimate.  They will have to take some forty depositions, which I
gather means substantial costs for stenography.  They very much need
support.

Tax deductible checks can be made out to the ACLU Foundation and mailed to
ACLU of Kansas and Western Missouri, 706 W. 42nd Street, Suite 108, Kansas
City, MO 64111.  Please mention that it is for the Olathe case.

Redistribution of this message is permitted.

Lorraine Moore