OneNewsNow.com - NY School Discards Rosary Bead Ban

by Bill Bumpas - OneNewsNow

Listen to the report here.

New York school district recently drew national attention for suspending a student for wearing rosary beads, but it has now changed its policy and lifted the bead ban.

Raymond Hosier was suspended last May for wearing rosary beads to Oneida Middle School in Schenectady. Officials claimed he violated school policy because beads are a potential gang symbol, but Hosier and his mother, with the help of the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), argued in court that the policy was unconstitutional and that he was wearing the beads to honor his late brother and uncle.

A judge issued a court order in June that temporarily allowed the student to wear the rosary, and now the school board has eliminated the language that links the beads to gangs.

"All that's left now is settling the settlement...the damages and liability, which can be done in court if the school doesn't want to settle out of court, or we're open to having those discussions out of court as well," explains ACLJ attorney Jordan Sekulow. "But the biggest first step here is that it's a victory for all the students there and a signal for school districts around the country that those kinds of polices go too far."

Sekulow adds that he pleased with the new guidelines.

"Now they've got a constitutional policy in place; if the school district does something like this again, they'll be violating their own policy, which makes it much easier for a student in the future to handle this without even having to go to court," the ACLJ attorney reports.

Hosier's mother also says the school district has agreed to expunge her son's record.