The Board of Education in Wilson County, Tennessee is no stranger to church-state controversy – first found to have violated the separation of church and state for school officials improperly promoting religion, then settled a suit after being challenged for censuring religious references in student posters advertising a prayer event. Now, a Wilson County elementary school's practice of making Bibles available to children during school hours has forced a settlement with the ACLU after the civil liberties group threatened a lawsuit.
While sitting on the gym’s bleachers, the [fifth-grade] students were introduced to a group of representatives of The Gideons by Carroll-Oakland’s principal Carol Ferrell, who told the students about the time in her life when she received her first Bible and about the importance of that occasion. After being told by The Gideons representatives about how they distribute Bibles all over the world, Joann Doe’s teacher informed the students that she would be calling up each row of fifth graders to retrieve a Bible, and that taking a Bible was not necessary or mandatory. However, every student came forward to take a Bible from a basket full of Bibles, and Joann Doe said she did so only because of peer pressure from other students and her fear of being ostracized if she chose not to.
After the Bibles had been distributed, Joann Doe and her classmates returned to their classroom, where they were instructed by their teacher to write their names in the Bibles for their own personal use.
To the credit of the school board, they have agreed to stop clearly unconstitutional behavior like this without a court having to force them. You can read the settlement agreement here.
[UPDATE: Tennessean coverage is here.]
