Teacher Sues School Over Order To Remove Classroom Banners

Yesterday, the Thomas More Law Center announced that it had filed a federal civil rights suit against San Diego, California's Poway Unified School District on behalf of a teacher who was required by school officials to remove from his classroom a number of banners with religious references on them. For the past 25 years, teacher Brad Johnson had displayed banners with excerpts from patriotic documents referencing God, such as "in God We Trust" and "God Shed His Grace on Thee". The suit alleges that the school district has imposed an unconstitutional viewpoint-based restriction that serves no valid educational purpose on Johnson's speech by ordering the banners taken down. Yesterday's North County Times discusses the lawsuit. Poway School District is already involved in other high profile litigation brought by a student who was banned from wearing a T-shirt condemning homosexuality.