For nearly fifty years, Michigan’s Constitution has strictly prohibited taxpayer funding of private and religious schools.  However, in 2016 the legislature appropriated $2.5 million to “reimburse” private and parochial schools for complying with mandates that all schools in Michigan must abide by.  The ACLU of Michigan opposed the legislation, and although Governor Snyder recognized that it was constitutionally suspect, he refused to exercise his veto power.  Instead, he signed the appropriation into law and simultaneously asked the Michigan Supreme Court to issue an “advisory opinion” on

In October 2015 a “school resource officer” working in Flint handcuffed a seven-year-old student with ADHD when the student did not immediately respond to the officer’s instruction.  The student was not a threat to himself or others and was handcuffed for nearly an hour solely on account of his disability-related behavior.  In March 2016 the ACLU wrote a letter on behalf of the family seeking wholesale policy changes to ensure that no more children are handcuffed at school.  We are continuing to work with Flint in an attempt to resolve the matter. 

In the wake of an on-field brawl that involved only some members of the football teams of Detroit’s Cody and Martin Luther King High Schools, school officials summarily suspended all players on the teams’ rosters from school.  In October 2015 the ACLU of Michigan sent a letter to the school district about the denial of due process for the affected students.  The students were not provided with hearings or other opportunities to hear any evidence against them and to defend themselves against the accusations.  The letter also highlighted the overuse of suspensions in maintaining the school-to

In July 2016 a 13-year-old student was forced to withdraw from a summer school program run by a public school district because he did not consent to a daily pat-down frisk and a search of his backpack.  The teenager’s father had recently passed away, and his mother was unable to locate a firearm that had been legally owned and registered in the father’s name.  Although there was no evidence that their son had taken the gun or posed any danger to the school, school administrators insisted on searching the 13-year-old as a condition of his entering the school building each morning. 

In response to calls to remove Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye from the Northville Public Schools AP English curriculum, the ACLU of Michigan wrote a letter in April 2016 warning against censorship and highlighting the importance of studying the themes of race, poverty and oppression raised by the critically acclaimed novel.  In response, the Board of Education voted unanimously to permit the use of the book. 

(ACLU Legal Director Michael J. Steinberg; Board President Loren Khogali.)

After a ten-year-old Detroit Public Schools student with special needs was accused of throwing toilet paper, she was dragged to the principal’s office and placed in handcuffs by a police officer.  The girl panicked, and as she struggled she allegedly kicked the officer.  The child was accused of assaulting school personnel and designated for expulsion on those grounds as the 2016 school year was drawing to a close.  Counsel from the ACLU of Michigan attended the expulsion hearing in August 2016 and urged that she not be expelled, as such a severe punishment would prevent the enrollment of t

A student at Eastern Michigan University who has been a practicing Wiccan since age 14 contacted the ACLU of Michigan when the public safety department refused to allow him to keep his athame on campus.  Wicca is a pagan religion, and an athame is a ceremonial blade used in Wiccan ritualistic exercises to channel psychic energy and demarcate the boundaries of a magic circle. 

NOTE: The American Civil Liberties Union does not support or oppose candidates for elected or appointive office.

In November, President-elect Donald Trump chose conservative Michigan billionaire Betsy DeVos--a woman with a long history as an advocate for voucher schemes and for-profit charter schools--as his nominee for U.S. Secretary of Education. DeVos' confirmation hearing has been set for Jan. 17.

Originally published on the Michigan Chronicle

When it comes to the situation regarding the water in Flint’s public schools, Jeree Brown is in the dark.

With two children attending Eisenhower Elementary School, she has no idea what’s going on regarding state testing of water in schools throughout the Flint Community Schools district.

She’s not alone.