No political buttons for teachers, says federal court

Here’s Schools Chancellor Joel Klein’s pleased reaction, which the Department of Education just sent over:

I am pleased that the federal court agreed with us that teachers cannot wear political buttons while in our schools. Keeping politics out of the classroom was our primary concern here, and our position has been fully vindicated.

Background on the case, brought by the United Federation of Teachers earlier this month, who wanted teachers to be able to wear buttons, here and here.

UPDATE: I just got the actual decision, by Lewis Kaplan of the southern district court. It’s not as clear-cut a victory for Klein as his statement suggests. Teachers cannot wear political buttons, but they are allowed to do two other things: (1) post materials with “candidate-related political content” on union bulletin boards located close to students and (2) stuff staff mailboxes with “materials containing candidate related political content.”