For Immediate Release:
Monday, August 24, 2009

Contact:
Alessandra Soler Meetze, Executive Director, ACLU-AZ, 602-418-5499 (cell) or 602-773-6006 (office)

TUCSON – The American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona’s Southern Arizona Chapter will commemorate “Constitution Day” by hosting a free panel discussion on the constitutional rights of students and teachers in the classroom.  The panelists will include school administrators, students, teachers and constitutional law experts.

“From free speech to due process, neighborhood public schools play an important role in teaching students and teachers important lessons about the Constitution, limited government and the need to respect fundamental freedoms,” said Mary-Carol Wagner, President of the Southern Arizona Chapter of the ACLU of Arizona. “Aside from arming students and administrators with information about their constitutional rights, we’re also planning on discussing how to balance those rights with responsibilities in the classroom.”

The public event, “Constitutional Rights in the Classroom,” will be held from 2 to 5 p.m. on Saturday, September 12 at Pima Community College Downtown Campus, Amethyst Room, Bldg. CC, Rm 180, located at 1255 North Stone Ave.  The event is free and open to the public. For more information call 602-650-1854 ext. 115.

The interactive panel discussion, which will be moderated by Mary-Carol Wagner, will give students, parents, teachers and community members an opportunity to ask questions about constitutional issues that are frequently raised in the classroom such as free expression of teachers and students, due process rights, searches and seizures and religious expression. It is being held in conjunction with the nationwide commemoration of Constitution Day on September 17th, the day the document was adopted in 1787.

Panelists are: Brent White, professor of constitutional law at the University of Arizona College of Law; Frank Armenta, principal at Cholla Magnet High School; Barbara Elfbrandt, adjunct faculty at Pima Community College, attorney, and former middle school teacher; Maria Abalos, social studies teacher at Safford Middle School; Kyle Dignoti, student at Salpointe Catholic High School, and  Hanna Rubin, editor-in-chief of the student newspaper at Tucson Magnet High School.

Throughout its history, the ACLU of Arizona has frequently gone to court to safeguard the rights of students and teachers in the classroom.  For example, the organization filed a “friend-of-the-court” brief on behalf of a former Tucson school teacher Barbara Elfbrandt, who challenged Arizona’s loyalty oath in a 1966 case that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. More recently, the ACLU of Arizona represented gay students who were prohibited from expressing themselves or start gay-straight alliances on public school campuses.

With nearly 3,000 members, the Southern Arizona Chapter of the ACLU of Arizona is the largest and most active ACLU chapter in Arizona.  The ACLU of Arizona is a non-profit, non-partisan membership organization dedicated to preserving constitutional freedoms and the Bill of Rights through litigation, legislative advocacy and public education. 

The ACLU of Arizona is an affiliate of the national ACLU, which boasts a membership of 500,000 with approximately 6,000 members and supporters in Arizona.

This meeting is wheelchair accessible.  For sign language interpretation, captioning, or other accommodations, please contact the ACLU of Arizona office at 602-650-1854, ext. 115. Providing 72 hours notice will help to ensure availability.