Rhett Derrick

I'm going to end it here. Basically, teachers have lots or room to grade the substance of a student's work and structure assignments that conflict with a student's personal views. What the teacher cannot do is target a student based on those views or use the teacher's discretion as a pretext. /end

Teacher makes a lot of comments about why he is big mad about student not standing for the Pledge of Allegiance. Court unsurprisingly says there is lots of proof of pretext.

scholar.google.com/scholar_case...

Next, a recent one Oliver v. Arnold, 3 F.4th 152 (5th Cir. 2021). Student won't stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. Student doesn't have to, thanks to Barnette v. West Virginia. Teacher big mad about this, so he assigns the student to write the Pledge of Allegiance as an assignment.

Teacher counsels the student that she should talk to other Mormon girls who don't mind swearing. Fact pattern is sufficient to create a genuine issue of material fact whether the pedagogical goals were pretextual.
scholar.google.com/scholar_case...

Uncomfortable saying the F-word, taking the Lord's name in vain, or getting naked. Plaintiff is assigned parts with lots of swear words. She is originally accommodated by substituting non-swear words, until the teacher changes her mind. And teacher keeps giving her swear word parts.

So what do those pretext cases look like? We start with Axson-Flynn v. Johnson, 356 F. 3d 1277. Plaintiff is practicing Mormon who is open about her faith. She enrolls in an acting class. As part of audition, Plaintiff is asked if there is anything she is uncomfortable with. She says she is

The Sixth Circuit explains why failing grades are hard to turn into first amendment cases. The court holds that unless plaintiff can demonstrate the teacher's reasons are pretexts, plaintiff loses.

Student picks the topic of "The Life of Jesus Christ." Teacher says no, pick a different topic. Student then picks ""A Scientific and Historical Approach to Jesus Christ." Teacher says no. Teacher gives a litany of reasons why she won't approve the topic. Student doesn't budge. Student gets a zero.

Next, we have Settle. And you're going to see some similarities to a certain news story, but with potentially relevant distinctions.

Teacher makes the mistake of providing way too broad of an assignment. Research topic of student's choice which must be "interesting, researchable and decent."

scholar.google.com/scholar_case...

Yada, Yada, Yada, and Corlett is given a police escort off campus and suspended from the college for a year. The court concludes the punishment did not violate the First Amendment as Defendants did "not invoke curriculum as a pretext for engaging in unlawful discrimination"

Things come to a head when Corlett submits a "Hot for Teacher" essay which starts off about a different teacher, but then goes into discussing his current teacher, the one grading the class:

In Corlett, a 55 year old student enrolled at Oakland Community College. As part of his English class, he was required to keep a "Writer's Daybook." Corlett is a kind of a perv:

So your traditional categories of content neutral, content based, and viewpoint discrimination are largely out the window. Because of this, these are hard claims for students to bring.

Let's start with a fun one, Corlett v. Oakland Univ. , 958 F. Supp. 2d 795, 798 (E.D. Mich. 2013) /2

Ok, so who wants a deep dive on curricular speech and the First Amendment?

This is a topic where it is difficult to speak in generalities. Logically, it is impossible for a teacher not to evaluate the content of a student's assignment as part of grading /1

@aricohn.com will get in here and take the heat off of Anthony.

Mike Tomlin went 15 years without aging a day, and then aged all at once.

The genre is starving m’lord.

It’s 4th down, what’s the worst that can happen?

Sid Meier had a love-hate relationship with pirates.

Happy Thanksgiving Ken.

Let me write “Rome Thugs n’ Harmony” real quick so you can give it a bad review.

I can make you one if you’re jealous.

I read the Yearling for some reason, instead of Where the Red Fern Grows.

I can and I do. But keystone light served its purpose. It did a workman like job when a workman like job was what was needed.

Let’s leave keystone light out of this. Keystone light did nothing wrong here.

I was the first analyst-psychologist. The first analchologist!

Angola Prison hosts Daddy Daughter Dance ANGOLA - Angola Prison hosted its first Daddy Daughter Dance ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, giving many fathers a chance to interact with their daughters for the first time.

Very cool.

www.wbrz.com/news/angola-...

Ken contains multitudes.

Me: I think I will search Bluesky for thanksgiving turkey to see if anyone did anything cool they showed off.

Me, 30 seconds later: Blocked, Blocked, you’re all blocked. None of you are free of sin.