“There is no statutory authorization for you to require office approval for what a student does after school hours, much less for such non-disorderly conduct as going to the public library,” Joe Cook, executive director of the ACLU’s Louisiana chapter, wrote Riverdale Principal Randy Bennett December 20. “If you are concerned about their conduct while there, then you might teach them about proper behavior in such a setting.”
Cook told the December 24 New Orleans Times-Picayune that he sent the letter after a Riverdale parent brought the policy to his attention. Cook declined to identify the individual because the parent feared “retaliation and repercussions” against that family’s child.
Bennett told the newspaper that the policy will stand unless JPS Superintendent Diane Roussel decides differently. He went on to explain that it was instituted—after the library experienced many problem behaviors from Riverdale students—in consultation with school and library officials, as well as the sheriff’s office.
Posted January 8, 2007.