Christian-rights group claims school muffled teacher
The Rutherford Institute alleges that Tabb High School officials deprived William Lee of his freedom of speech and equal protection rights last October when they took down the materials and barred him from putting them back up.
They included a poster publicizing the National Day of Prayer, a depiction of George Washington praying at Valley Forge and news articles about President Bush’s religious faith and former Attorney General John Ashcroft’s prayer meetings with his staffers.
Lee, who also advises First Priority, the school’s Christian students’ club, is asking a federal judge in Norfolk to allow him to rehang the posters and leave them up. He said Friday that many teachers “post a variety of personal and club materials on the wall” and he felt school officials discriminated against him because of the posters’ subject matter.
County Attorney James E. Barnett has said in a letter to the Christian civil-liberties group in Charlottesville that the posters were properly removed because of their “overtly religious nature of the displays and their narrow focus on only a religious point of view, conveyed to the School Division an unmistakable endorsement of, and attempt to advance, Christianity.”
Lee’s lawyer, Steve C. Taylor, said that his client is being targeted in “an apparently indiscriminate way.”
“When we’re not provided with any guidelines, it permits a man to be singled out in violation of his constitutional rights,” Taylor said. “I don’t understand how these things were overtly religious.”
The four posters were taken down after a “parent advocate had complained on the behalf of the student,” Lee said in a telephone interview. He said he didn’t know who filed the complaint, and said no students or parents discussed the issue with him, even though they had the opportunity.
Posters left up included materials about the religious practices of Inca and Mayan civilizations, a photo of Boy Scouts praying in memory of those killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and an article and photo of an aircraft-carrier flight technician with “Pray for America” written on his helmet.
Lee said that all materials were used to give “an accurate and complete treatment of Hispanic and pre-Hispanic society,” including the issue of faith. According to the lawsuit, the materials also were posted to publicize or illustrate the activities of First Priority and other subjects in which Lee was interested.
Barnett said he plans to discuss the specific allegations with school division officials. He said that generally, the courts have recognized a particular sensitivity about teachers posting articles that promote a religious point of view.
“There are some circumstances that are appropriate,” he said. “The question is, are they appropriate in the context of Spanish-language instruction?”
“You can anticipate without too much surprise that context will be an issue,” Barnett said. “That’s the kind of question that, among others, might be asked and answered in this case.”