The Capistrano Unified School District has had a multitude of issues over the past few years that have been documented here, here, and here. Now, they are in the crosshairs for a 2021 incident where they restricted a young girl’s free speech rights and publicly shamed and punished her (without her mother’s knowledge or consent) for a drawing. Chelsea Boyle, the girl’s mother, sought redress first from the school district, and then through the courts. A district court deemed that the girl’s drawing could not be considered protected speech. Now, the matter has landed in the Ninth Circuit of Appeals.
Why does this matter? As attorney, school board member, and advocate Julie Hamill has stated:
If the district court’s rationale stands, and the infusion of racial ideology in elementary schools continues, young children attempting to connect with their peers will be punished when…
