Legal Question Of The Week - 3/20/13
By Attorney Thomas B. Mooney, Neag School of Education, University of Connecticut
The "Legal Question of the Week" is a regular feature of the CAS Weekly NewsBlast. We invite readers to submit short, law-related questions of practical concern to school administrators. Each week, we will select a question and publish an answer. While these answers cannot be considered formal legal advice, they may be of help to you and your colleagues. We may edit your questions, and we will not identify the authors. Please submit your questions to:legalmailbag@casciac.org .
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Dear Legal Mailbag:
A teacher in my school has been badgering her colleagues in the teachers’ lounge. She has recently “found” God, and in all sincerity, she wants to share the good news. The problem is that many teachers just want to be left alone, and her talking about her faith makes some of them quite uncomfortable. A number of teachers came to me and asked me to intervene. However, when I first confronted the teacher, she tried to convert me. I finally got her to focus on the concern, but I was shocked at her vehement response. She told me that my interfering with her sharing God’s word would be the work of the Devil. Then, she asked me if I were giving her a directive. Her question made me a little anxious, but I told her yes, that it was a directive. “Fine!” she responded. “We will see what the Connecticut Civil Liberties Union says about this egregious violation of my rights under the First Amendment.” Do I really have to let her proselytize in the teachers’ room?
Signed,
Seeking Divine (Or Legal) Guidance
Dear Seeking:
The general rule is that teachers (and other public employees) have free speech rights when they speak on a matter of public concern (except for when they speak as part of their job duties). Accordingly, you may not impose overly broad restrictions on speech, including speech on a religious topic. Here, you should be careful not to be hostile to religion by adopting special restrictions about religious speech. However, you may regulate time, manner and place of speech as long as you do so without discriminating on the basis of viewpoint. Therefore, given the complaints, you are free to tell the teacher not to bother other teachers with unwanted conversation about religion. Admittedly, it will not always be clear what speech is a bother and what is not. However, if you communicate with the teacher about the concern and let the other teachers know that they should tell the teacher when they are not interested in continuing such conversation, you may be able to solve the problem.
The "Legal Question of the Week" is a regular feature of the CAS Weekly NewsBlast. We invite readers to submit short, law-related questions of practical concern to school administrators. Each week, we will select a question and publish an answer. While these answers cannot be considered formal legal advice, they may be of help to you and your colleagues. We may edit your questions, and we will not identify the authors. Please submit your questions to:
_____________________________________________________________________________
Dear Legal Mailbag:
A teacher in my school has been badgering her colleagues in the teachers’ lounge. She has recently “found” God, and in all sincerity, she wants to share the good news. The problem is that many teachers just want to be left alone, and her talking about her faith makes some of them quite uncomfortable. A number of teachers came to me and asked me to intervene. However, when I first confronted the teacher, she tried to convert me. I finally got her to focus on the concern, but I was shocked at her vehement response. She told me that my interfering with her sharing God’s word would be the work of the Devil. Then, she asked me if I were giving her a directive. Her question made me a little anxious, but I told her yes, that it was a directive. “Fine!” she responded. “We will see what the Connecticut Civil Liberties Union says about this egregious violation of my rights under the First Amendment.” Do I really have to let her proselytize in the teachers’ room?
Signed,
Seeking Divine (Or Legal) Guidance
Dear Seeking:
The general rule is that teachers (and other public employees) have free speech rights when they speak on a matter of public concern (except for when they speak as part of their job duties). Accordingly, you may not impose overly broad restrictions on speech, including speech on a religious topic. Here, you should be careful not to be hostile to religion by adopting special restrictions about religious speech. However, you may regulate time, manner and place of speech as long as you do so without discriminating on the basis of viewpoint. Therefore, given the complaints, you are free to tell the teacher not to bother other teachers with unwanted conversation about religion. Admittedly, it will not always be clear what speech is a bother and what is not. However, if you communicate with the teacher about the concern and let the other teachers know that they should tell the teacher when they are not interested in continuing such conversation, you may be able to solve the problem.