Social studies teacher Robert Escamilla said the Wake County school system squelched free speech and academic freedom -- and he is finding a growing group of supporters.

In the days since he was reassigned to Mary E. Phillips High School, 100 of his former students have signed a petition to have him reinstated at Enloe. The chairwoman of the social studies department at Enloe wrote a forceful letter to the school board calling him a "sacrificial lamb." A Web site (www.freeesco.com) is being built and bank account has been set up to help with his legal bills.

Escamilla maintains he did nothing wrong when he invited Kamil Solomon, an Egyptian-born Christian who lives in Raleigh, to speak to 300 or so Enloe students about his persecution at the hands of the Egyptian government. On the contrary, Escamilla said, he thought the visit by the evangelist was an educational exercise that exposed his students to different opinions and challenged them to form their own views.

The question is this, he said: "Are we going to be open to a variety of different perspectives versus are we going to limit and censor and shut down the educational experience and environment to keep out people with certain views?"

Escamilla, who readily avows his own Christian faith, acknowledges that Solomon was not neutral toward Muslims. But he insists that his guest did not denigrate Islam or attempt to convert students to Christianity during the visit.

The school system sees it differently. In a sharply worded release last month, Wake County Schools Superintendent Del Burns said Solomon's primary message was to convey his anti-Muslim and pro-Christian views. Burns has apologized to Muslims for Solomon's visit. And he issued new guidelines that require guest speakers to sign forms saying they will not denigrate any culture, race, gender, national origin or religion.

School officials won't talk further about Escamilla's case, which they view as a personnel matter.

But experts on teaching religion in the public school said Escamilla's appeal on the basis of academic freedom or free speech is weak.

"Public school teachers are subject to the establishment clause of the First Amendment which is designed to ensure that government remains neutral" when it comes to religion, said Charles Haynes, senior scholar at the nonprofit First Amendment Center in Washington and a leading expert on teaching religion in the public schools. "That draws lines on their exercise of free speech."

Even if Escamilla didn't personally denigrate Islam, said Haynes, he bears responsibility for not stopping his guest speaker.

"The teacher is the gatekeeper making sure the First Amendment is upheld and the student's religious liberty protected," Haynes said, adding that schools are not an open forum, such as a public park. Teachers and guest speakers must follow guidelines.

To Escamilla's supporters, the distinctions seem unfair.

"Free speech is what schools should be doing," said Thomas Dresser, the father of one of Escamilla's former students and a supporter. "It's not right that different groups be treated differently."

What Solomon said

The facts of the controversy are not disputed. At the suggestion of a student who had heard Solomon speak at her church, Escamilla invited the evangelist to make a presentation to his Bible in History class -- an elective -- to talk about the impact the Bible has had on him.

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