As a result of a demand letter from Liberty Counsel, a Greater Hartford-area school district has rescinded the discipline it said it would impose on a middle school teacher for allowing students to use her classroom during lunch to pray, read the Bible, and discuss religion.

Even though this teacher and others had accommodated Muslim students in their religious expression and practice during lunchtime without discipline, district administrators characterized this teacher’s allowing Christian student religious exercise during non-instructional time (outside of an after school “club” forum) as a “lack of professional judgment.” At a disciplinary meeting, the district decided to give the teacher a two-day unpaid suspension, a letter of reprimand, and to inform the Christian students they were prohibited from meeting to engage in lunchtime religious activity. Excerpts from the recorded meeting included in the demand letter reveal a misunderstanding of the Establishment Clause and student religious free exercise rights.

In the letter, Liberty Counsel informed the school district that students have the First Amendment right to engage in voluntary religious activity on campus during non-instructional time. Moreover, the teacher did not participate in the religious activity, but only allowed the small group of students to use her classroom, issued hall passes for lunchtime transit, and otherwise facilitated student religious exercise with parental permission—similar treatment she rendered to a Muslim student for lunchtime prayer. Liberty Counsel noted that religious exercise outside instructional periods does not need official “club” status, and punishing a teacher for accommodating Christian religious exercise under substantially similar terms by which the district has accommodated other religions violates the First Amendment Free Speech and Free Exercise Clauses, the Equal Access Act, and the Connecticut Religious Freedom Exercise Act.

In response to Liberty Counsel’s letter, the school district acknowledged that legal precedents “make clear” that students “have the right to engage in prayer and discussion” during free time, and teachers are permitted to accommodate those activities in a non-participatory status. The district removed the discipline from the teacher’s record and will permit lunchtime prayer, Bible study, and discussion for Christian students when classes resume this Fall.

Liberty Counsel’s Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “We are pleased to assist this teacher, who is a member of Christian Educators. Our teacher client will have no discipline for accommodating the religious needs of her students, and the students are able to resume their lunchtime Bible study. Under the First Amendment, public schools cannot prevent students from religious practice during their free time, nor can they discriminate against Christian viewpoints regarding use of school facilities.”  

For information on how to obtain Bibles for public school libraries, visit biblesinschools.org.