The Board of Educationvs.

Pico

Island Trees Union Free School District

• Nassau County, Long Island – Levittown, Bethpage, and Seaford

• 31 miles from New York City

• Created in 1902

• 2 Elementary Schools, 1 Middle School, 1 High School

• Alum: Eddie Money

Cause of the Case1975 – Parents of New York United (PONYU) gave Island Trees School Board a list of books they consider objectionable.

School Board finds that 9 of the books are in the district’s High School library and 1 in the Junior High.

1976 – Board gave an “unofficial direction” to remove the 10 books.

Board appointed a “Book Review Committee” composed of parents and staff

Book Review Committee recommends:• 5 return to shelves• 2 removed• Rest need parental permission

Cause of the Case1976 – Island Trees School Board ignores recommendation of Book Review Committee on the grounds that the books were:

“anti-American, anti-Christian, anti-Semitic, and just plain filthy …”

Steven Pico17 years old

Island Trees High School student

With several other High School and Junior High students, Pico brought action against the School Board claiming they violated the students First Amendment right to free expression.

Pointed out that banning was due purely to the ideologies of School Board members

The Court Case

The District Court ruled in favor of the School Board

Court of Appeals reversed the decision

School Board petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court

The Court CaseSupreme Court came to a 5-4 decision in favor of the students.

Rehnquist O’Connor Burger Powell

Brennan White Marshall Blackmun Stevens

Majority Opinion

Dissenting Opinion

Ramifications of Board vs. Pico

As centers for voluntary inquiry and the dissemination of information, school libraries hold a special affinity with the rights of free speech and press

A School Board cannot restrict the availability of books in a school library because they don’t agree with the ideas in the book.

 ”We are therefore in full agreement … that local school boards must be permitted to establish and apply their curriculum in such a way as to transmit community values…At the same time, however, we have necessarily recognized that the discretion of the States and local school boards in matters of education must be exercised in a manner that comports with the transcendent imperatives of the First Amendment.”

-Justice William J. Brennan

Sources

http://www.firstamendmentschools.org/resources/handout1a.aspx?id=13965

http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0457_0853_ZS.html

http://www.oyez.org/cases/1980-1989/1981/1981_80_2043

Attribution

http://www.flickr.com/photos/whereisyourmind/3508275007/