06-04-2009, 07:43 PM
3rd Circuit: Parent Can't Read Bible to Son's Public School Class
Shannon P. Duffy
The Legal Intelligencer
June 2, 2009
In the court battles over prayer in school, the cutting-edge cases are increasingly coming from the kindergarten classrooms.
The latest such case, Busch v. Marple Newtown School District, attracted six friend-of-the-court briefs when it went before the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and resulted in a 48-page decision with all three judges on the panel weighing in.
Voting 2-1, the court rejected the claims of the mother of a kindergarten student who said public school officials violated her First Amendment rights when they prohibited her from reading verses from the Bible -- which she said was her son Wesley's favorite book -- during a program called "All About Me" week.
Writing for the court, 3rd Circuit Chief Judge Anthony J. Scirica said "parents of public school kindergarten students may reasonably expect their children will not become captive audiences to an adult's reading of religious texts."
When parents participate in an elementary school's curricular activities, Scirica said, school officials have the right to require that the parents refrain from promoting specific messages in class.
"Parents, much like teachers, are typically held in high regard and viewed as authoritative by young children. By inviting participation in curricular activities, educators do not cede control over the message and content of the subject matter presented in the classroom," Scirica wrote.
Educators must be free to involve parents in the educational process, Scirica said, but "these efforts could be jeopardized if parents -- once invited into the classroom to share details about their family experience as part of 'show and tell' activities -- could express any message of their choosing."
According to court papers, students in Wesley Busch's class were given a chance to share information about themselves, first by bringing in a poster that illustrated their interests and later by having their parents come in to read from their favorite books.
Wesley made a poster with his mother that included photographs of himself with his hamster and with his family, as well as a picture of his church captioned: "I love to go to the House of the Lord."
Donna Busch testified that Wesley asked her to read from the Bible and that she chose to read Psalm 118, which begins: "Give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good; because his mercy endures forever," but that the teacher and principal prohibited her from doing so.
Scirica said he recognized that there is a "tension" between the rights of individuals to identify and practice their religion, on the one hand, and the duty of school officials to avoid entanglements with religion on the other.
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Shannon P. Duffy
The Legal Intelligencer
June 2, 2009
In the court battles over prayer in school, the cutting-edge cases are increasingly coming from the kindergarten classrooms.
The latest such case, Busch v. Marple Newtown School District, attracted six friend-of-the-court briefs when it went before the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and resulted in a 48-page decision with all three judges on the panel weighing in.
Voting 2-1, the court rejected the claims of the mother of a kindergarten student who said public school officials violated her First Amendment rights when they prohibited her from reading verses from the Bible -- which she said was her son Wesley's favorite book -- during a program called "All About Me" week.
Writing for the court, 3rd Circuit Chief Judge Anthony J. Scirica said "parents of public school kindergarten students may reasonably expect their children will not become captive audiences to an adult's reading of religious texts."
When parents participate in an elementary school's curricular activities, Scirica said, school officials have the right to require that the parents refrain from promoting specific messages in class.
"Parents, much like teachers, are typically held in high regard and viewed as authoritative by young children. By inviting participation in curricular activities, educators do not cede control over the message and content of the subject matter presented in the classroom," Scirica wrote.
Educators must be free to involve parents in the educational process, Scirica said, but "these efforts could be jeopardized if parents -- once invited into the classroom to share details about their family experience as part of 'show and tell' activities -- could express any message of their choosing."
According to court papers, students in Wesley Busch's class were given a chance to share information about themselves, first by bringing in a poster that illustrated their interests and later by having their parents come in to read from their favorite books.
Wesley made a poster with his mother that included photographs of himself with his hamster and with his family, as well as a picture of his church captioned: "I love to go to the House of the Lord."
Donna Busch testified that Wesley asked her to read from the Bible and that she chose to read Psalm 118, which begins: "Give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good; because his mercy endures forever," but that the teacher and principal prohibited her from doing so.
Scirica said he recognized that there is a "tension" between the rights of individuals to identify and practice their religion, on the one hand, and the duty of school officials to avoid entanglements with religion on the other.