School Board Abolishes Public Criticism Policy

Oct. 14, 2008
The San Diego Unified School Board reversed recently adopted policies prohibiting its board members from making negative comments about their superintendent and staff and from criticizing board decisions when speaking publicly.

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The ACLU and California Aware (an open government group) had /wp-content/uploads/article/2008%2009%2029%20BoardGovernancePolicy.pdf" target="_blank">raised objections to the policy as soon as they were made aware of the board's vote on Sept. 25, 2008.

While the ACLU noted in its demand letter that the board perhaps had the laudable motivation of bringing civility to the board and its meetings, the policies nonetheless constituted an undue restriction on freedom of speech.

The ACLU is pleased that the board reversed the policy, allowing the public to be fully informed of its elected officials' positions on educational matters.