Public School - Religious Icon - Gee, You're SURPRISED???
Here we go again. The fundies attempting to shove religion down our kids' throats yet again. Despite case after case, fight after fight, why don't people just GET the fact that religion....ANY RELIGION....does not belong in public schools?
Charleston Daily Mail:
Two nonprofit groups are telling Harrison County Schools officials either to take down a picture of Jesus hanging in Bridgeport High School or find themselves in court.
The American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for Separation of Church and State issued a letter to school system lawyer Richard Yurko Jr. laying out case law on similar issues and giving a deadline.
"Accordingly, if the school district does not remove the portrait by close of business on Thursday, June 8, we will have no choice but to file suit seeking an injunction compelling the district to do so," reads the letter.
The groups contend the picture, which has been hanging in the hallway outside the principal's office for decades, violates students' First Amendment rights.
Yurko declined to comment on the situation Wednesday, saying only that he had received the letter and would counsel the Harrison school board.
William Ashcraft, assistant superintendent, had no knowledge of the letter but said the picture was still hanging at the school. When asked if they were taking the groups' deadline seriously, Ashcraft said: "Absolutely. Sure."
Superintendent Carl Friebel was not available for comment but has said the school might start a so-called "inspirational wall" where the Jesus picture would be accompanied by pictures of other religious and cultural leaders.
The ACLU in Charleston didn't like that idea.
Jeremy Leaming, a spokesman for Americans United out of Washington, D.C., said there is at least one federal case that involved a nearly identical situation in Michigan. In that case the judge ordered the school to take the picture down.
"This does not look real good legally on the part of the public school," Leaming said. "These school officials ought to know better. They've been defiant in trying to save an unconstitutional act."
Leaming said the groups expect a response to their letter after the school board meets on Tuesday.
Terri Baur, legal director at the ACLU-Charleston, remained optimistic the board would order the picture taken down.
"We hope to settle it without litigation," she said.
Harold Sklar, a lawyer for the FBI in Clarksburg, first contested the picture's placement a decade ago. The ACLU initially recruited Sklar to represent a handful of Bridgeport High School students who were offended by the picture, a print of Warner Sallman's "Head of Christ."
After getting no satisfaction from school administrators, Sklar went before the school board earlier this year.
Contact writer Justin D. Anderson at 348-4843.