Faith under fire: Student told to remove rosary

[pnwmom]

191. Rosary wearers have ALREADY gone to court and won.

This school doesn't require uniforms and rosaries are the only religious item they don't allow students to wear. "No rosaries are allowed" is clearly a discriminatory policy.

The school would lose if this case went to court, just like other schools have lost. I'd be interested if you could show me any case where a judge ruled against a student wearing a rosary.



http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/n-y-teen-suspended-for-wearing-rosary-sues-school

Editor’s note: On Oct. 30, 2010, a U.S. district judge approved a settlement agreement between the Schenectady City School District and Raymond Hosier, who was suspended for wearing a rosary to school. The school district agreed to pay nearly $25,000 in damages, legal fees and costs, and to expunge any disciplinary notes stemming from the incident from Hosier’s permanent record. The school district also recently changed its policy banning the rosary from being worn in school.

http://www.yumasun.com/articles/school-79814-rosary-religious.html


Much to the dismay of school administrators, religious students are pushing back. Last year, 14-year-old Jonae Devlin sought legal help after she was suspended by her Houston school district for wearing a rosary in memory of her grandmother. Two years ago in Schenectady, N.Y., 13-year-old Raymond Hosier's family filed suit after being told Raymond couldn't wear rosary beads to honor his older brother, who had died in an accident.

The Catholic rosary isn't the only religious symbol caught in the wide safety net cast by public school anti-gang efforts. In 1999, for example, a Mississippi school district barred Ryan Green, a Jewish 11th-grader, from wearing the Star of David. In 2003, an Oklahoma school district suspended sixth-grader Nashala Hern for wearing her hijab, a head scarf she wore to observe her faith.

After calling in lawyers, all of these students eventually won the right to wear symbols of their religion to school. It's likely that Jake also will prevail should his family challenge the rosary ban in Coon Rapids.

Students win these cases because the U.S. Supreme Court famously recognized in 1969 that students “do not shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate” (Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School District).

http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/k-12-public-school-student-expression-overview

But some cases have shown that school officials do not have carte blanche to regulate all student dress. For example, a federal court in Texas ruled in favor of two high school students punished for wearing rosary beads to school.

http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/rosary-ban-in-colorado-school-sparks-controversy/

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Wear a Buddha. Wear the Star of David. Wear an atheist evolve fish, even if religious students take offense. Just don’t wear a rosary while attending Mann Middle School.

Administrators of the school, in a city of 410,000 that’s often referred to as the “Evangelical Vatican,” have banned wearing the rosary unless it’s tucked under a shirt. While imposing the policy, administrators have clarified that students may wear any other religious items in a visible manner. They have created confusion about their rationale, telling the media it relates to gang activity and telling parents that it has to do with sensitivity to Catholics who may find wearing of rosary beads offensive. First Amendment lawyers say the case is bizarre, placing the school in danger of losing a potential lawsuit.

The school in Colorado Springs is the second in two months to find itself embroiled in a rosary conflict, as federal judges ruled in September against a rosary ban in upstate New York.