One Illinois school district wasn’t too thrilled that one of its teachers was encouraging his students to use their Fifth Amendment rights in the classroom.
John Dryden, a high school teacher at Batavia High School in the suburbs of Chicago, was disciplined by the school board this week for alerting his students to their Fifth Amendment rights before taking a school survey.
The Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution protects Americans against abuse of government authority in legal proceedings, including protection from double jeopardy and self-incrimination.
According to the school board, Dryden “mischaracterized” the administration by telling students in three of his classes they didn’t have to take a school-mandated survey back in April because it could be considered self-incrimination, according to Fox News. The students were asked to sign their names on the 34-question survey about emotions and their personal drug and alcohol use, which could then be used by the school district to find students that could need help.
Red Alert Politics reached out to the school for confirmation but they didn’t immediately return the request for comment.
“I advised my students that they had a Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate themselves,” Dryden told The Kane City Chronicle. “It was not my intention for them not to take the survey.”
Many parents said that they were unaware their children were taking such a survey, despite the fact that they were emailed a notice by the school district.
“I was not made aware a survey was going to be issued to my son, and basically was not given any opportunity to protect his privacy rights,” high school teacher and parent Meg Humphrey told The Daily Herald.
Batavia School District Superintendent Jack Barshinger does not believe that there was a Fifth Amendment issue with the survey. He said that once students’ names were on the surveys, they would become student records and therefore subject to student privacy laws. As a result, the police couldn’t prosecute the students based on the information provided in the survey.
“The issue before the board was whether one employee has the right to mischaracterize the efforts of our teachers, counselors, social workers and others; and tell our students, in effect, that the adults are not here to help, but that they are trying to get you to ‘incriminate’ yourselves,” Barshinger said in a statement.
The school board will send Dryden a letter of remedy listing all the hoops he must jump through before he can return to teaching. Barshinger refused to tell reporters what the remedies were, instead suggesting that they file a Freedom of Information Act to find out that information.
Meanwhile, nearly 8,000 students and community members signed a petition “to defend and support” Dryden, demanding that the school board “not consent to the disciplinary action taken against Mr. John Dryden.”
“It is Mr. Dryden’s task as an educator to impart his students with the knowledge and ability to make informed choices, even if these lead to conscientious objection. For the administration of Batavia High School to pursue disciplinary action against a dedicated educator, whose instruction is solely student-centered is, in our opinion, an extreme lapse of professional competence,” the petition states.
This piece has been update to note that Red Alert Politics is waiting for comment on whether or not the test was school-mandated.
