Wash. school district agrees to respect student prayer meetings

SPOKANE, Wash. — Alliance Defense Fund attorneys have obtained a favorable settlement for a Christian student who filed suit against the East Valley School District.  The settlement acknowledges the student’s constitutional right to meet on campus for religious purposes during non-instructional time.  School officials initially prohibited her from meeting with other schoolmates for prayer, discussion, and fasting in a room regularly open for other student-organized gatherings.

“Christian students shouldn’t be discriminated against for their beliefs on any public high school campus,” said ADF Senior Counsel David Cortman.  “The East Valley School District should be commended for agreeing to respect the constitutional rights of Christian students to meet together as other students are allowed to do.”

ADF attorneys filed suit on Mar. 12 in federal court after officials at East Valley High School cited “separation of church and state” concerns when they prohibited a student from meeting with Christian classmates in a room open to other students for discussion and group activities.  Shortly afterward, the school district decided that the student and her friends would be allowed to meet on the same terms as other student groups.

“ADF was pleased to be able to dispel the myth that the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment means Christians should be singled out for discrimination,” said ADF Legal Counsel Jeremy Tedesco.  “The only wall that prevents religious expression is the ACLU’s, not Thomas Jefferson’s.”

In addition, the school district agreed on May 13 to change an East Valley School District policy that prohibited “religious services, programs, or assemblies…in school facilities.”  The revised policy prohibits the district from continuing to squelch private religious speech.

ADF is a legal alliance of Christian attorneys and like-minded organizations defending the right of people to freely live out their faith.  Launched in 1994, ADF employs a unique combination of strategy, training, funding, and litigation to protect and preserve religious liberty, the sanctity of life, marriage, and the family.