Free speech could be curtailed in Lee schools; At issues are personalized email signatures
WGCU | By Eileen Kelley | September 4, 2024
Adding a quote to an end of an email signature can add some personality to an otherwise run-of-the-mill email.
For instance, there’s this one from Eleanor Roosevelt: “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” Or this one from Nelson Mandela: “The greatest glory in living lies not in never failing, but in rising every time we fail.”
What’s the harm? That’s apparently debatable in Lee County.
According to new civil rights and guidelines being considered by the Lee County School Board Thursday, such email signatures would be banned by school district employees.
Email signatures would be limited to work-related certifications and roles. And not non-work-related insignia, pictures and quotes.
Also up for discussion are the use of personal items in the classroom. Lee County drew attention earlier this year when a teacher was asked to remove his “Hate Has No Home Here” banner. The banner depicts a peace symbol, a heart, a gay-rights symbol as well as the words, “Black Lives Matter.”
The teacher covered those words but has refused to remove the banner from his Riverdale classroom. It’s been hanging in his classroom for a year now.
Kevin Daly, the head of the teachers union in Lee County said he was going to run the proposals past attorneys as well as the gay-rights organization Equity Florida. He also wants to way the proposals against Florida laws. Under the direction of Gov. Ron DeSantis, the Florida Legislature has taken a hardline stance in what can be said, done and read in schools. A litany of new laws have been passed and challenged.
“And see if there’s anything in here that that’s in violation of an employee’s free speech, or contradictory to a law. The problem is, you know, these laws are all new, right? All new and untested. So when I say this is kind of unsettled law, it’s exactly what it is, right?”
The meeting is at 1 p.m. at the district’s headquarters. If it goes forward the final decision will be made in two weeks.
