Law & Courts News in Brief

District Sued Over Field Trip to Voting-Precinct House

By The Associated Press — November 09, 2010 1 min read
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An anti-tax group has sued the Cincinnati school district after a claim that students were taken to a voting-precinct house on a field trip, shown how to vote, and given Democratic sample ballots.

The Coalition Opposed to Additional Spending and Taxes claims the trip violated a 2002 agreement reached after an earlier lawsuit against the schools over equal access in a school levy campaign. The new lawsuit says the district had agreed to a policy preventing district property and workers from being used for “promulgation and distribution of printed and electronic messages advocating the election or defeat of candidates for public office.”

The district suspended the school’s principal, Virginia Rhodes, for five days and said it was looking into possible policy violations. Ms. Rhodes said in a news release last week that students were given only Democratic literature because a Republican campaign worker declined to provide it.

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A version of this article appeared in the November 10, 2010 edition of Education Week as District Sued Over Field Trip to Voting-Precinct House

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