School Faces Big Legal Fees In Prayer Lawsuit
Tuesday June 23, 2009
The Santa Rosa County School District is up to its butt in legal fees, following costs incurred when the American Civil Liberties Union filed a school-prayer lawsuit. The suit was filed in August 2008 on behalf of two high school students who said "school officials regularly promoted personal religious beliefs and led prayers at school events."
In January, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction against the school, and in May school officials signed paperwork in which they admitted wrongdoing on the part of the district. They also promised at that time that school staff "would no longer take part in religious activities." However, the principal and a district clerk were charged with violating the injunction and consent order, so now they're facing contempt of court fines, in addition to legal fees stemming from the original lawsuit.
So far, the financially strapped school district has racked up almost $200,000 in legal fees of their own, and they could also be ordered to pay over a quarter of a million bucks to cover fees for ACLU attorneys.
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In January, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction against the school, and in May school officials signed paperwork in which they admitted wrongdoing on the part of the district. They also promised at that time that school staff "would no longer take part in religious activities." However, the principal and a district clerk were charged with violating the injunction and consent order, so now they're facing contempt of court fines, in addition to legal fees stemming from the original lawsuit.
So far, the financially strapped school district has racked up almost $200,000 in legal fees of their own, and they could also be ordered to pay over a quarter of a million bucks to cover fees for ACLU attorneys.
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Comments
Well, nice to know that they weren’t wasting the taxpayers’ money on something stupid, like books, or teachers’ salaries, or something like that.
The employees who blatantly broke promises and disregarded the agreement should be terminated. Period.
I’d like to know the details of the complaints. If they were leading prayers at school events, that seems just so blatantly wrong that I’m stunned that it continued after the initial complaint–especially in Santa Rosa of all places, not exactly a bastion of fundamentalist Christianity. Do you have a link to any earlier article that describes specifics?
First, this is the Santa Rosa school district in Florida, not California. Quite a difference.
Second, here’s the link to the Complaint, filed by the ACLU 8/27/08: http://www.aclu.org/pdfs/religion/santarosacounty_complaint.pdf
The complaint has lots of information, as it notes when prayers were held, the teachers and administrators involved, and the general behavior by school officials. Of interest is the involvement of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes in this matter, one of the groups that was part of the John Freshwater complaint in Ohio.