This reporting gives ample space to a very important issue facing every teacher in the classroom today: free speech. I was fortunate enough to have met Deb Mayer on a couple of occasions here in Madison while her appeal was wending it’s way through the court system. What you can’t glean from this article is the kind of person Deb is; kind-hearted, thoughtful, almost understated. Certainly not of a strident nature. And yet this school teacher’s blandly stated “I honk for peace,” has slowly become a foundation for further appellate decisions throughout the country. A teacher rep. summarizes this issue cogently, “”If I were a public school teacher, I would live in fear that some innocuous remark made in the classroom in response to a question from a pupil would lead to me being terminated” under such a ruling.” As Deb Mayer says, “My free speech is not for sale at any price.”
Robert Godfrey
AMPS 