Man Responds To Ban From Lyons Township High Schools

La Grange IL

19 May, 2022

8:40 AM

Description

LA GRANGE, IL – The man who has been prohibited from both of Lyons Township High School's campuses wants to take legal action against the school. But he said he has been unable to do so. "I tried four law firms. They passed. Even the ACLU," Justice resident William See said in an email to Patch this week. During public comments last October, See called school board members "worse than pedophiles." After he labeled members "bobbleheads" in December, the school informed him by letter that he was banned from its properties. "Everything I said in those meetings since last August was factual, and my less than flattering opinions of the members of the school board are just that: opinions. Words," See said in the email. "Didn't even get my three minutes to talk at the December meeting. So much for civil liberties, constitutional rights." See is the only person banned from the school's campuses as a result of the board's stepped-up enforcement of its public comment rules. At the December meeting, a police officer escorted See out of the room after See repeatedly called board members "bobbleheads." Other districts have less strict public comment rules. First Amendment lawyers say the government cannot regulate the content of speech. Two years ago, Hinsdale High School District 86 was sued in federal court when it prevented speakers from talking about a school official's position on a controversial science curriculum issue. As part of an out-of-court settlement, the district agreed to have a watchdog group speak about First Amendment issues to the school board. The group advised the board it could not restrict comments on the basis of the content of speech, even racist comments. During District 86's board meeting, the lawyer for the watchdog group, Maryam Judar, was asked whether the board could prohibit slanderous comments. She questioned how the government could decide which comments fell into that category. In an email to Judar shortly after the meeting, Patch asked whether the N-word could be forbidden during public comments. Judar, who has since left the Citizen Advocacy Center, said it was hard to say. She noted the 1971 Supreme Court ruling that found a court violated the free speech rights of a man wearing a "F--- the draft" T-shirt in a courtroom. It was considered speech that was not disruptive to the court and that he should not have been arrested for disturbing the peace. "I don't believe the N-word has been part of any litigation where political speech was suppressed by the government," Judar said in an email. "These situations can be highly context-specific, which is part of the reason that government has to afford latitude to speakers lest government chill speech, which is a passive-aggressive form of prior restraint."