On The Front Lines
Public School Officials Block High School Wind Ensemble from Playing Instrumental 'Ave Maria' at Graduation Due to Church/State Fears
SEATTLE, Wash.--Attorneys for The Rutherford Institute have filed a First Amendment lawsuit in defense of the rights of a member of a high school wind ensemble to perform an instrumental arrangement of "Ave Maria" at the school's graduation ceremony. The case centers on a school official's refusal to allow the senior high woodwind ensemble to perform their choice of an instrumental arrangement of German composer Franz Biebl's "Ave Maria" at the school's graduation ceremonies. In the complaint, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle, Wash., Institute attorneys charge that the school superintendent's unfounded concerns about the religious nature of the piece and subsequent move to veto the ensemble's decision to perform the piece at their graduation ceremony violated the First and Fourteenth Amendment rights of the senior members of the woodwind ensemble.
"This case is a perfect example of the ridiculous extremes to which school officials will go in their efforts to sanitize our nation's public schools of anything even remotely related to Christianity," said John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute. "Schools cannot ban performances and restrict students' right to free expression whenever those forms of expression might have some minimal connection to religion. This is a case of clear and open hostility towards religion--Christianity, in particular."
Traditionally, school officials at Henry M. Jackson High School in Snohomish County, Wash., have allowed the senior members of the high school's top performing instrumental group, the woodwind ensemble, to choose a song from their repertoire to perform as a farewell during graduation ceremonies. Having performed Franz Biebl's "Ave Maria" at a public concert in 2004, which was attended by students, parents, faculty and members of the public, the seniors in the wind ensemble unanimously chose to perform it again at their graduation ceremony on June 17, 2006, because they felt its aesthetic beauty and peacefulness would be appropriate for the tone of the ceremony.
The senior members proposed to perform Biebl's piece instrumentally; no lyrics or words would be sung or said, nor did the senior members intend that any lyrics would be printed in ceremony programs or otherwise distributed to members of the audience. However, despite the absence of lyrics, Dr. Carol Whitehead, superintendent of Everett School District No. 2, refused to allow the ensemble to perform "Ave Maria" at their graduation ceremony because she believed the piece to be religious in nature. In response, attorneys for The Rutherford Institute filed a First Amendment lawsuit against the superintendent on behalf of graduating senior Kathryn Nurre, a saxophonist with the wind ensemble and one of the 17 senior high students who selected "Ave Maria" for the graduation ceremony. As Institute attorneys pointed out in their lawsuit, the superintendent's actions violated the students' rights to freedom of speech, to be free from hostility to religion and to equal protection under the law.
