On The Front Lines
Rutherford Institute Launches National Campaign to Teach Public School Officials the ABC's of the Constitution in the Classroom
Institute Issues Special Public School Report 'Inside the Schoolhouse Gates,' Available at www.rutherford.orgCHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- The Rutherford Institute has launched its annual "ABC's of the Constitution in the Classroom" campaign, a national effort to educate students, parents, teachers and school administrators about how to uphold the U.S. Constitution in the public schools. As part of the campaign, John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute, sent a legal memorandum to nearly 15,000 public school superintendents across the United States to educate them about the Department of Education's "Guidance on Constitutionally Protected Prayer in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools" and warn them against censoring student religious expression. The Institute is also making available to school officials an in-depth special report entitled "Inside the Schoolhouse Gates: A Report on Religion in the Public Schools," which can be accessed online here (PDF). Whitehead has also promised to send a free pocket-sized copy of the U.S. Constitution to anyone, student or adult, who requests one.
"School districts have an affirmative obligation to understand and respect the rights of all their students, including religious students," said John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute. "We hope that this campaign will remind public school superintendents of their obligation to respect the constitutional rights of free expression of all schoolchildren, including those wishing to freely exercise their religion. However, where schools fail to live up to their constitutional responsibility, The Rutherford Institute and its attorneys are ready and willing to assist students and their families in securing their rights through the legal system."
"Inside the Schoolhouse Gates: A Report on Religion in the Public Schools" cites numerous instances of censorship of student religious expression by public school administrators. For example, when a second-grade class was assigned to choose songs to lip sync in front of the class, one child was told that she could not lip sync to "My God is an Awesome God" because this would violate "the separation of church and state." A kindergartner in New York was told she could not pray before snack time. In California, a high school student was suspended for passing out invitations to a church event outside his classroom before the school day began. And the parent of a kindergarten student was told that she would not be permitted to read from the book of Psalms as part of a "Me Week" program that was supposed to showcase the child's favorite book. The Rutherford Institute's special report on religion in the public schools is available here (PDF). Also available is a series of articles that focus on different aspects of students' and teachers' rights, including "The Rights of Religious Student Groups in Public Schools," "Student Free Speech and Literature Distribution," "Teacher's Rights in Public Education," and "Zero-Tolerance and Student Searches."
The Rutherford Institute is an international, nonprofit civil liberties organization committed to defending constitutional and human rights.
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