Academic Freedom

Resources

Guide to School Board Advocacy in Washington

Document, Published: 
Thursday, September 5, 2024
This publication is designed to serve as a tool for students, parents, guardians, and other community members who want to communicate and advocate before their school board.
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Back-to-School: Know Your Rights

Published: 
Wednesday, September 4, 2024
This back-to-school season, we’ve compiled a list of resources to help equip students, parents, and teachers with the critical information they need to understand and protect their rights.
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Book bans in Washington and the vital importance of being able to read, write, and say what you want

Published: 
Thursday, August 22, 2024
ACLU affiliates across the country celebrate Banned Books Week, following a legacy of vigilantly defending the First Amendment and the right to free speech.
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Book banning in Washington state: An FAQ

Published: 
Thursday, August 22, 2024
Learn about book bans in Washington and what you can do to prevent them.
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Book Bans and the Right to Read in Washington

Published: 
Thursday, August 22, 2024
Pushing back on censorship and advocating for the importance of keeping books —and therefore knowledge and ideas — available.
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School Board Restores Clubs’ Access to School Resources!

Published: 
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Students in the Kennewick School District are celebrating today because last night the school board restored access to school resources for noncurricular clubs.
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Book Ban Reversed: Sherman Alexie Novel Back in Richland Classrooms

Published: 
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
On July 11, the Richland School Board voted 4-1 to bring Sherman Alexie’s young adult novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian back to all its high school classrooms. This welcome action reversed the board’s vote in June to exclude the novel from all high school classrooms after it was piloted for the 9th-grade curriculum.
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Police in Schools: Age Makes a Difference in Questioning Youth

Published: 
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Thinking back to myself at 13 years old, I recall a constant tension between the child I was and the adult I was becoming. Now I try to picture that version of myself being pulled from a classroom and taken to a conference room where two police officers and two school administrators want to question me about a neighborhood robbery. Would I have told officers I preferred they stop questioning me?  Or that I wanted to leave?
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