"[On Monday], Jeff Rossman asked Council to reprimand Schilling for “using his office to suspend the First Amendment rights of our children.”

Earlier this month, Schilling says, he received a phone call from a parent at Venable School, complaining that a political display in the school library included only information about Democrats, and that a picture of the President hanging in the hallway had a line drawn through it.

So Schilling went to Venable, snapped some pictures and sent them to the school board. “Where I’m from, in L.A., gangs use red X’s to indicate they’re going to kill somebody,” says Schilling.

Rossman claims Schilling demanded the picture of Bush be taken down; Schilling says Rossman is wrong about that: “My point was that I wanted the school board to consider the symbolism.”

Bobby Thompson, the City’s assistant superintendent for school administration, says he heard similar complaints about Venable. Upon investigation, Thompson said Venable tried to get Republican material for their library display, but the party didn’t provide any.

Thompson also ordered the crossed-out Bush picture be taken down, that is until he discovered that it was part of a second-grade art collage. “It was a student work, and not disruptive,” Thompson says.

The whole controversy, he says, was “a misunderstanding that got out of control.” (John Borgmeyer, C-Ville Weekly, November 23-29, 2004)

See also, Jeff Rossman Comments on Rob Schilling, Venable School and the Bill of Rights.