ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, November 9, 1996 TAG: 9611110021
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOANNE POINDEXTER STAFF WRITER
Bedford County school officials deny charges that a Montvale Elementary student's reading materials were censored and say they will not be intimidated by the threat of a lawsuit.
"The facts and the law are on our side, and no amount of threats and chest-thumping will alter that," Patrick Lacy Jr., an attorney for the school system, wrote to a group representing the pupil. "I suggest that it is you and your client who owe the school system an apology and not the other way around."
School officials said fifth-grader Jason Gardner can read a Rush Limbaugh newsletter when it does not interfere with schoolwork.
"He is free to bring it to school, and he is free to read it before and after school, at lunchtime, at recess and at other times which are not part of or disruptive of the instructional program," Lacy wrote to The Rutherford Institute, a conservative watchdog group representing the boy's family.
But David Melton, an attorney for the institute, wasn't satisfied with the response and said Friday he will continue with legal action against the school system. He is adding the name of the fifth-grade teacher to a suit already in federal court. Melton said the teacher sent Jason to the office Sept. 26 for reading the June copy of Limbaugh's newsletter, "The Limbaugh Letter."
The Charlottesville-based institute maintains that Jason is being censored because twice in one year he has not been allowed to read materials by Rush Limbaugh in school.
In May, Jason's fourth-grade teacher ignited a controversy by confiscating a copy of Limbaugh's best-selling book, "The Way Things Ought to Be." Jason's father sued the school system when officials said the book was not appropriate for a fourth-grader. The case has not gone to trial.
Lacy wrote that the institute's information is inaccurate and inappropriate.
In the letter, Lacy also denied that the school has a new policy that students cannot bring any reading materials from home. He said the rule only applies to books read for a reading competition that is part of the school's instructional plan.
"The teachers' guidelines for reading materials for this reading program are a legitimate exercise of their educational judgment," he wrote. "It is neither a sham nor viewpoint discrimination.''
Melton wrote school officials last month, giving them about two weeks to respond before he sought the additional legal action.
The school system, according to its letter, has no intention of resolving the matter amicably, Melton said. "There are two diametrically opposed views; this is going to have to be litigated."
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