The Gwinnett County, Ga., school board has fired the teacher who defied a state law mandating a moment of silence at the beginning of each school day.
The board voted Sept. 22 to dismiss Brian G. Bown for “insubordination” stemming from his protest of the law in August. (See Education Week, Sept. 7, 1994.)
Mr. Bown, a government teacher at South Gwinnett High School, continued lecturing on the first day of school when he was supposed to observe the moment of silence.
He later said he could not obey the law and walked off his job on the second day of school, Gwinnett County administrators said.
Mr. Bown has filed a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the state-mandated moment of silence.
Curfew Curtailed
A Dade County, Fla., judge has permanently barred the county from enforcing a nighttime curfew for juveniles.
In a Sept. 21 ruling, Circuit Court Judge Norman Gerstein said the state constitution allows young people the right to “associate with whomever they please and to assemble with others for political and social purposes.”
Dade County commissioners passed the curfew in February. It prohibited people younger than 17 from being on the streets after 11 P.M. Sunday through Thursday, and after midnight on Friday and Saturday, with some exceptions. (See Education Week, March 16, 1994.)
The American Civil Liberties Union challenged the curfew in a lawsuit, and in March Judge Gerstein issued a preliminary injunction against it.
County officials said they plan to ask the judge to reconsider his decision in light of a new state law, which takes effect this week, that permits cities and counties to establish nighttime curfews for juveniles.
