What are the First Amendment rights? How do you resolve questions about the rights of students, educators, and parents in a school setting?
How to Use This Book
The Birth of the First Amendment
Part I. First Amendment Schools: Educating for Freedom and Responsibility
Part II. Core Issues for All Schools to Consider
Part IV. Resources
Charles C. Haynes is Senior Scholar for Religious Freedom at the First Amendment Center and serves on the Board of Directors of the Character Education Partnership. He was a principal organizer and drafter of a series of consensus guidelines on religious liberty issues in public schools endorsed by leading religious and educational organizations. Dr. Haynes is the author of Religion in American History: What to Teach and How (1990) and Finding Common Ground: A First Amendment Guide to Religion and Public Education (1994). He holds a master's degree in religion and education from Harvard Divinity School and a Ph.D. in theological studies from Emory University. He may be contacted at the First Amendment Center, The Freedom Forum, 1101 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, VA 22209. Phone: 703-284-2859, Fax: 703-284-2879. E-mail: chaynes@freedomforum.org
Sam Chaltain is the coordinator of the First Amendment Schools project at the First Amendment Center. He came to the First Amendment Center from the public and private school systems of New York City, where he spent five years teaching high school history, English, and journalism, and coaching soccer and basketball.
John E. Ferguson Jr. is the education coordinator for the First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University. While at the First Amendment Center, Ferguson authored several articles for legal and educational journals, and acted as associate editor on the newest revisions of Finding Common Ground: A Guide to Religious Liberty in Public Schools. He also travels around the nation speaking to educators and civic groups about religious liberty in the public schools.
David L. Hudson Jr. is a research attorney at the First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. He is a First Amendment contributing editor to the American Bar Association's Preview of United States Supreme Court Cases. He also is the author of two books for young people: The Bill of Rights: The First Ten Amendments of the Constitution and The Fourteenth Amendment: Equal Protection Under the Law. He has written several law review articles dealing with the First Amendment rights of public school students. Hudson received his law degree from Vanderbilt University and his undergraduate degree from Duke University.
Oliver Thomas is a lawyer, minister, author and school board member. He serves as director of the Niswonger Foundation, a private operating foundation designed to provide educational opportunities in Southern Appalachia.
