Victory for Bible in Schools

 

Im happy to report that weve had two victories for students who desire to read their Bible during a free reading period.  Both cases involve elementary school students:  one in Florida; the other in Illinois. 

 

Angelinas public school class in Florida allowed a free reading time during the school day.  Initially, the school teacher indicated that it was inappropriate to utilize the Bible as part of the free reading period.  In the second case, a student in Illinois went to get his Bible out of his locker to read during free reading time.  The teacher informed the student that the principal did not allow Bibles in the classroom.

 

In both of these cases, we sent a detailed legal analysis to the parents in order to be able to effectively resolve the situations with the school systems.  Im happy to report that in both cases, the principals agreed that the Bible was appropriate to be read in class during the free reading time.  The parents in Illinois wrote us a very nice thank-you note, saying, Thank you again for all of the literature on the subject.  It comforts me to know that you folks are available to fight the good fight.  Keep up the great work!  When the case in Florida was resolved, the parents also wrote us saying that the ACLJs letter gave me the knowledge I needed to speak intelligently about Angelinas rights.

 

We noted that student free speech rights extend to situations where students are allowed to design their own art work, select a song to perform or sing, choose a topic for a research paper, or select reading material during free reading time periods.  The Department of Education Guidelines issued in 1995 specifically state that:

 

            Students may express their beliefs about religion in the form of homework, artwork, and other written and oral assignments free of discrimination based on the religious content of their submissions.  Such home and classroom work should be judged by ordinary academic standards of substance and relevance, and against other legitimate pedagogical concerns identified by the school.

 

In 2003, the Department of Education amended the Guidelines, noting that a failure for a school to comply with the guidelines may result in loss of certain federal education funding.  The Guidelines also noted that:

 

[I]f a teachers assignment involves writing a poem, the work of a student who submits a poem in the form of a prayer (for example, a psalm) should be judged on the basis of academic standards (such as literary quality) and neither penalized nor rewarded on account of its religious content.

 

We have successfully implemented these guidelines throughout the country and have resolved numerous cases for students.  We are happy that these cases in Illinois and Florida have been successfully concluded.