Nathan Woodliff-Stanley, Executive Director Mark Silverstein, Legal Director September 24, 2018 SENT VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL: cquintan@adams14.org Connie Quintana, President Board of Education Adams County School District 14 5291 E. 60th Avenue Commerce City, CO 80022 Dear Ms. Quintana: The ACLU of Colorado writes on behalf of Jorge Garcia, the Executive Director of the Colorado Association for Bilingual Education. On September 11, 2018, during the public comment portion of an Adams County School District No. 14 (“Adams 14”) school board meeting, Mr. Garcia voiced concerns about Superintendent Abrego’s educational policies and practices. Board members silenced Mr. Garcia by asking a Commerce City police officer to remove him from the meeting. We ask that the Board issue an apology to Mr. Garcia for violating his First Amendment rights, and allow him to voice his comments without interruption in future board meetings. When offering his respectful criticism of Dr. Abrego’s actions as superintendent, Mr. Garcia’s comments fell squarely within the Board’s written policy regarding the public comment portions of school board meetings. See Adams County School District 14 Policy Manual Section BEDH. Nevertheless, the Board interrupted Mr. Garcia before he could finish his statement, invoking an apparently unwritten policy that prohibits speakers from mentioning district employees (even the superintendent!) by name. At the Board’s direction, a police officer moved the microphone away from Mr. Garcia and escorted him from the premises, despite his repeated assertions that his First Amendment rights entitle him to voice his opinions during public comment. According to Adams 14 school district policies, public commenters at board meetings are permitted to speak about matters related to “district concerns.” The public-comment portion of school board meetings are “limited public fora because Page 1 of 3 the Board limits discussion to certain topics.” Barrett v. Walker Cty. Sch. Dist., 872 F.3d 1209, 1225 (11th Cir. 2017). In a limited public forum, speakers may be subject to “restrictions on speech,” but any restriction must be “reasonable and viewpoint neutral.” Pleasant Grove City, Utah v. Summum, 555 U.S. 460, 470, 129 S. Ct. 1125, 1132, 172 L. Ed. 2d 853 (2009). Thus, as long as public commenters at Adams 14 board meetings stay within the subject-area of the limited public forum, they are entitled to express any viewpoint related to those concerns. As the Supreme Court recently explained, in a limited public forum, even though speech is limited to a particular subject area, “viewpoint discrimination is forbidden.” Matal v. Tam, 137 S. Ct. 1744, 1763 (2017). The Board’s silencing of Mr. Garcia represents viewpoint discrimination that the First Amendment forbids. Id. Importantly, and in accord with applicable legal precedent, during an April 10, 2018 study session, the Board received guidance on how to address criticism from the public. Randy Black, a Colorado Association of School Boards representative, correctly advised the Board that they cannot control community comments, and should instead engage with community members in a variety of contexts to establish a rapport with concerned citizens. 1 Mr. Garcia’s criticism is not only permitted by the Board’s written policy, it also falls squarely within the purview of First Amendment protection. Historically, the Board has inconsistently applied its unwritten policy against mentioning names. The Board often allows mention of names when speakers offer praise or when they simply identify a person. By allowing commenters to mention names when speakers offer praise and forbidding commenters to mention names when criticizing the Superintendent, the Board engages in viewpoint discrimination that the First Amendment prohibits. It is evident that enforcement of the unwritten policy against Mr. Garcia is an impermissible attempt to suppress “critical views of the actions taken” by Adams 14 leadership. Barrett, 872 F.3d at 1216 (holding that school boards may not prevent members of the public from speaking critically during public comment portions of school board meetings). Mr. Garcia addressed the Board in a respectful manner and was entirely professional in his delivery and in the substance of his comments. In contrast, the Board’s silencing of Mr. Garcia was unprofessional and a violation of the First Amendment. Mr. Garcia has every right to mention Superintendent Abrego by name when providing public criticism of a public official who is the highest-ranking executive officer of the Adams 14 School District. In light of the foregoing facts and the law, we ask that the Board (1) issue an apology to Mr. Garcia; and (2) confirm that Mr. Garcia will have the opportunity to Video of the relevant portion of the study session can be found here, beginning at 52:40 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtYiE6eRRw&index=30&list=PLIDwtDJFYcd04bP2j5u0ZNcWmmuM9ojig. 1 Page 2 of 3 voice his comments without issue at school board meetings in the future. Please respond to this request no later than October 1, 2018. Sincerely, Sara R. Neel Staff Attorney, ACLU of Colorado Cc: Dr. Javier Abrego, Superintendent: jabrego@adams14.org Harvest Thomas, Vice President/Secretary: hthomas@adams14.org Dominick Moreno, Director: dmoreno@adams14.org Dr. Bill Hyde, Treasurer: bhyde@adams14.org David Rolla, Director: drolla@adams14.org Page 3 of 3