In Lee v. York County School Division, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7114 (ED Va., Feb. 23, 2006), a Virginia federal district court rejected free speech and equal protection claims by William Lee, a Spanish teacher at York County's Tabb High School whose principal removed religiously oriented material that Lee had posted on his classroom bulletin board. The decision focused on precedent holding that the content of curricular speech by a teacher is subject to control by the school. The court also found that the school had not made its bulletin boards limited public forums; thus the school could regulate their content. (See prior posting.)
The Associated Press report on the case indicates that Lee's postings included news articles about President Bush's religious faith and former Attorney General John Ashcroft's prayer meetings with his staffers; a flier publicizing the National Day of Prayer; and a depiction of George Washington praying at Valley Forge.
UPDATE: Steve Taylor, attorney for teacher William Lee, says he will appeal the decision to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals.
