A follow-up from Scott on a story I ran here back in April 2003 (also originally spotted by Scott). In it, a girl and her parents were suing a Tennessee school district over how she was being harassed as a pagan in her middle school, and how she suffered punishment for declining to participate in on- and off-campus Christian activities (a tent revival and a Christmas pageant).
The case has been settled for $50k, and the school district has agreed to new “guidelines” regarding outside religious events that they allow students to attend during school hours.
Specifically, the new requirements state that permission slips for the religious events can be handed out only in common areas at the school, not in classrooms. And when the event hires buses that are marked “Union County Schools” to transport students, a sign “that is visible to passers-by” must say who is providing the transportation services and that they are not costing the school system.
Also, school employees who chaperone students to the crusades or other religious events during school hours must wear a name tag saying they are on leave from their job.
That, at a minimum, seems proper to me. There are, after all, probably a minimal number of busses available in the area, and if the religious event organizers are hiring them (at a reasonable rate), I don’t see a problem so long as it’s clear it’s not the school sponsoring the transportation. Having the school actually organize the permission slip hand-out, even in a common area (as opposed to in the classroom, where everyone can see you taking or declining a permission slip) is still a tad dicey, IMO, but may be a reasonable accommodation should a large majority of the kids be attending such an event.
How the district and schools there deal with what sounds like some awful harassment remains to be seen.
Scott quotes, presumably from the Knoxville News Sentinel (which is both subscription-only and is currently not responding well) this reaction from the Baptist minister who organizes the tent revivals at the heart of the suit:
Beeler, who runs the nationwide crusades through Crusade Ministries, laughed at the new requirements. “I don’t know other than petty and childish what words to use on these rules. They’re completely worthless,” he said. “I’m glad I can chuckle at them and laugh at them because it’s a laughable situation really.”
Remember that sense of humor when the school, with your tax money, starts formally organizing and bussing kids to Evil Secular Humanists for Satan Day, Rev. Beeler, or to the Get Out the Vote for the the Next Democratic Presidential Candidate Rally. I’m sure you’ll see your own outrage as similarly “petty” and “childish.”