Girl complains about school prayer, wins $7,500

A federal judge has fined a school in Mississippi $7,500 that will be paid to a female student who complained an invocation at an optional awards ceremony violated the district’s promise not to have prayers at student assemblies.

The judge’s ruling determined that the district, Rankin County School District, was in contempt of court and it needs to work a lot harder at excising anything Christian from its properties.

“Schools owe a duty to all students to refrain from conduct which gives the appearance of advocating a particular religion,” wrote U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves. “In fairness to and protection of all, they must remain neutral. This same duty is owed to the parents who submit their children to the protection of educators, entrusting that they will sharpen their academic minds.

“Parents don’t drop their children at the school house door to have their child’s religious beliefs affirmed, questioned or compromised.”

The court judgment said the district has had a long tradition and history of including Christian comments in various events and the student, M.B., who filed as a minor “by and through her next friend, Kanwar Singh Bedi,” originally brought a case over the issue.

That was settled in 2013 with a consent decree.

But the girl brought the issue back to court just recently, charging that the district was now violating its own Religion Policy and was in violation of the intent of the earlier agreement.

This came after the school held an optional event to honor students who scored above 22 on their ACT, and invited a local pastor to offer an invocation.

The judge, whose decision was posted online by the American Humanist organization, noted that there were even more allegations – that the school allowed the Gideons to hand out Bibles to students, too.

Reeves found that the district improperly allowed a Christian prayer at the ACT honors event. He found that the district was required to change its practice from prior years, where tradition included such elements as an invocation.

“First Amendment jurisprudence is replete with cases prohibiting nonsectarian prayers in public school,” he wrote.

And while the event was not mandatory, that “does not cure it from being coercive,” the judge wrote.

“The event was still coercive as it unnecessarily required plaintiff to make the difficult decision between being exposed to a religious ritual she found objectionable or not attend an event honoring her and other students for their academic excellence,” he wrote.

The school, he said, should just instruct employees and personnel on how to avoid such complications.

“Understandably, eradicating practices, which over time have been systemically engrained in an institution’s culture is a task that requires time. But the first step to take must be one which informs all employees of a new policy. When the policy is breached, district officials should take corrective action,” he said.

The district’s fine of $7,500 will go to M.B. for her “deprivation of her constitutional rights.”

The American Humanist Association represented the student, who objected to the prayer by Rev. Rob Gill, a pastor of a local Methodist church.

from PropagandaGuard https://propagandaguard.wordpress.com/2015/07/28/girl-complains-about-school-prayer-wins-7500/

from WordPress https://toddmsiebert.wordpress.com/2015/07/27/girl-complains-about-school-prayer-wins-7500/