Last year Florida's Santa Rosa School District entered into a consent agreement, pledging to stop promoting religion in public schools, after a claim brought by two students alleged widespread religious coercion by school administrators and teachers. That agreement has been put into question by a new lawsuit arguing that the order goes too far in restricting the actions of school personnel, violating their constitutional rights. But this new bid to overturn the consent decree was put on hold last week when the Judge delayed an injunction ruling to give time for input from the original suit's participants:
[Judge M. Casey] Rodger’s Aug. 20 order on the newest lawsuit also denied the Liberty Counsel’s request for a preliminary injunction that would have allowed the school district to stop enforcing the consent decree until a ruling is made on its constitutionality.
Liberty Counsel founder Mathew Staver doesn’t consider Rodgers’ ruling a setback.
“She (the judge) hasn’t ruled on merits of the injunction,” Staver said. “She’s just giving them (the original plaintiffs) an opportunity to be part of the litigation.”
At issue here is the school district's agreement that teachers will not engage in prayer or other religious activities with students in the school setting. Liberty Counsel challenges the right of a district to enter into such an agreement on behalf of teachers who are not accused of wrongdoing. But the larger principle is very simple. Public school officials are representatives of all the people when acting in their official capacity on school grounds. Teachers certainly don't give up their First Amendment rights when they enter the school, but they don't gain the authority to violate the rights of students either, who are entitled to attend school without being indoctrinated, coerced, or alienated over their religious beliefs, or lack thereof.
Whatever the outcome in this particular challenge, that boundary should be enforced.
