LOS ANGELES - On behalf of a South Bay high school student and his parents, the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California sent a letter to the Manhattan Beach Unified School District today demanding that school officials allow students to distribute counter military recruiting flyers without fear of punishment.

Sixteen-year-old Joshua Goldman, a junior at Mira Costa High School, was told in early October by a vice principal that he could not pass out flyers titled "Questions the Army Doesn't Want You to Ask" without prior approval. Goldman had passed out leaflets and hung six posters on public and school property. Goldman would like to distribute the same leaflets next week when the military returns to the school for its monthly recruiting event.

In a letter to Manhattan Beach Superintendent Gwen Gross, ACLU/SC staff attorney Ranjana Natarajan wrote: "We believe that a policy of requiring prior approval would violate Mr. Goldman's free speech rights under applicable law... California public school students enjoy broad free speech rights, including protection for 'distribution of printed materials.' " The letter continued "Mr. Goldman's flyer, which conveys a pro-peace message and seeks to educate readers about enlisting in the military, is not obscene, libelous, or at all likely to incite readers to disrupt school activities."

Goldman, who feeds the homeless every weekend with Food Not Bombs in Venice, hopes to study music or political science after graduating high school. He said military recruiters visit the high school about once a month and that a small percentage of his classmates serve in the military after high school. The majority of the 2,500-student school continue on to college.

"I thought passing out flyers would be a good way to let parents and students know the recruiters are on campus and get people to talk about it," Goldman said. "I was really surprised when the vice principal told me I had to get his permission to pass the leaflets out, especially since other students put up signs or hand things out all the time."

Goldman and his mother contacted the ACLU after a meeting with the vice principal during which the school official told them Goldman would face punishment for distributing his flyers to classmates if he did not obtain prior approval.

"Josh and I talked about the flyers and his plans to pass them out at school before he did it," Elaine Goldman said. "I was very proud that he researched the other side and wanted to encourage people to think critically about what the recruiters might be saying. The school should be a place for thoughtful, well-rounded discussion. I was shocked the school would try to stifle a student."

The letter asks the school district to ensure school policy does not infringe on students' free speech rights and seeks assurances that Josh Goldman will not be punished for distributing his pro-peace leaflets on campus.

LOS ANGELES - The ACLU of Southern California announced today a final settlement has been reached in the Antelope Valley that will ensure pregnant and parenting teens have equal access to educational opportunities.

The settlement comes more than a year after the ACLU/SC filed suit on behalf of two high school students enrolled in the Antelope Valley Union High School District against the district and the Los Angeles County Office of Education over their operation of the California School Age Families Program (Cal-SAFE) for pregnant and parenting teens.

"Cal-SAFE provides child care, parenting classes, and other services to teen parents so they can stay in school," said Ranjana Natarajan, a staff attorney for the ACLU/SC. "Before this lawsuit, teen parents in Cal-SAFE couldn't choose what kind of education they wanted, and now they have the choice to take all their classes on a regular campus with their peers."

Prior to the settlement, Antelope Valley high school students did not have the option of participating in state-funded supportive programs while being enrolled full-time in regular school courses, including college preparatory classes. The settlement ensures that the three Antelope Valley schools, which offer Cal-SAFE programs through the Los Angeles County Office of Education, provide students with services such as child care and parenting and life skills instruction without denying them access to classes at their high school.

"I'm glad we all reached this agreement," said Cecilia [not her real name], an Antelope Valley High School senior, who as a part of the settlement was allowed to attend the regular school and receive supportive services from the Cal-SAFE program. "Now students who are parents can take college prep classes so they can go to college and their children can have a better life."

The California legislature passed a law creating the Cal-SAFE program in 1998. It was designed to provide pregnant and parenting students with support services necessary to stay in school, in response to the high dropout rate among the nearly 60,000 teens who become pregnant every year.

The original suit, which was filed in September 2004, named the Antelope Valley Union High School District and the Los Angeles County Office of Education as defendants and alleged violations under state and federal law, including Title IX. Cecilia G. and Keyana M., who graduated in June, were the named plaintiffs.

LOS ANGELES - In a case that will be argued before the U.S. Supreme Court today, the

American Civil Liberties Union submitted a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of public employees'

First Amendment rights to expose corruption on the job.

"A public employee who speaks up in the public's interest by reporting suspected police

misconduct to his superiors should not lose his First Amendment protection against retaliation by

his employer. Instead he should be praised and held up as a positive example of a whistleblower," said Peter Eliasberg, Manheim Family Attorney for First Amendment Rights at the

ACLU of Southern California.

The case, originally filed in federal court in Los Angeles in March 2000, centers around an

attempt by Richard Ceballos, a Deputy District Attorney in the Los Angeles County District

Attorney's Office, to expose police misconduct. While working on a criminal case, Ceballos wrote

a memo to his supervisors saying that he believed a deputy sheriff had falsified an affidavit used

to obtain a search warrant in the case. His superiors decided to proceed with the prosecution.

After Ceballos informed the defense counsel about his findings, he was subpoenaed to testify at a

hearing to dismiss the case. The judge denied the motion and Ceballos was removed from the

prosecution's team.

Ceballos said his removal from the prosecution was the first of many acts of retaliation for his

whistleblowing: He was denied a promotion, demoted to the rank of trial deputy and transferred from Pomona to the El Monte branch of the District Attorney's office.

"In an era of increased government secrecy, it is critical that we protect the First Amendment right of government employees to expose government misconduct, both to their supervisors and to the public at large," said Steven Shapiro, legal director for the national ACLU. "Government

accountability is at the heart of the First Amendment, and it is not enhanced when whistleblowers are silenced."

Six months before Ceballos raised the issue of corruption on the part of the deputy sheriff, Los

Angeles had been shaken by the Rampart scandal, a series of abuses involving corruption by an

anti-gang unit of the LA Police Department. After considering the facts, consulting with his

colleagues and superiors and taking into account the increased scrutiny in Los Angeles on police

misconduct, Ceballos recommended that the criminal case be dismissed.

A district judge dismissed the lawsuit. Ceballos then appealed to the Ninth Circuit, which reversed the lower court's decision holding that Ceballos' speech was protected under the First

Amendment. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the case in February 2004.

Ceballos' attorney, Bonnie Robin-Vergeer of the Public Citizen Litigation Group, will argue the

case. Attorneys Eliasberg and Shapiro submitted the amicus brief along with Michael Small of the

lawfirm Akin and Gump on behalf of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the

national ACLU and the ACLU of Southern California.