The AUHSD needs to speak up for the First Amendment

The Superintendent and Board of the Acalanes Union High School District failed to support the First Amendment when they did not respond after members of the community made public comments at the Feb. 4, 2026 board meeting, complaining about Club America, a branch of TP USA. The public comments urged the district to ban the club, claiming it was a hate organization. Those comments were followed by applause.  The Superintendent and Board members sat mute and did not respond.

    Their silence was wrong for several reasons. First, their announcement prior to public comment, stating that they could not respond to public comment, is a misinterpretation of the Brown Act, which allows a brief response. 

    Second, Club America is not a hate organization; its mission “is to identify, educate, train, and organize students to promote the principles of fiscal responsibility, free markets, and limited government.” https://www.clubamerica.com/about

    Third, the First Amendment protects so-called hate speech and students do not lose their First Amendment rights at the school house door. Indeed, the district’s “no hate zone” violates the First Amendment. 

    Fourth, the First Amendment prevents the district from choosing which clubs to allow and which clubs to ban based upon the content of a club’s speech or purpose. As Board Policy 1313 provides, “The Board welcomes dissent and will encourage and engage with those who advance contrary, unpopular, or unconventional viewpoints. The clash of differing values and viewpoints is healthy and essential to effective governance. Participants in civil discourse should not only respect the views of others but also be willing to change their own views.”  https://simbli.eboardsolutions.com/Search/ShowSearchResults.aspx?S=36030662S

    Sadly, the opposition to Club America is the latest example of the local community’s failure to live up to its ideological commitment to diversity and inclusion, because our community does not value viewpoint diversity or inclusion of people with diverse viewpoints. The Superintendent and the Board should have spoken up for the First Amendment per their own policy and pushed back against the objections to Club America.

Nick Waranoff
Orinda