Controversy over distribution of religious materials continues in Plano, Texas
It is the time of year in the Plano, Texas school district for holiday card contests, secret Santas, and legal wrangling over student religious rights. The latest is a legal group's claim that school district officials have thumbed their noses at a judge's ruling on when elementary school children can hand out church pamphlets and other religious materials to other students. Plano school officials say they're following the law. “The court has determined that part of their policy is unconstitutional, but they haven't changed it,” said Hiram Sasser, a LLI attorney. In February, a federal court ruled that the school district can not stop elementary children from handing out materials during lunch. The order was part of a broader, long-standing First Amendment lawsuit against the district. District officials say they appealed the latest ruling because they do not want to disrupt elementary cafeterias. “We thought we were doing the right thing,” Superintendent Doug Otto said. “You get a lot of kids in there, and they get distracted easily and pretty soon lunchtime is over.” Dr. Otto said that in the interim, principals have followed the judge’s order. School officials also alerted parents of the court order in a policy handbook this fall. But they did not change a district policy to reflect the ruling.
Mr. Sasser complained about the discrepancy to school officials. “When the judge says part of your policy is unconstitutional, you're required to remove that part of the policy, no ifs ands or buts,” he said. “It's sort of like when a judge orders somebody in a criminal case to go to jail. You don't get to go, ‘Well, I'm appealing, so I'm going to live my life as a free person.’” School officials have added a disclaimer to a student expression portion of district policy, which states that district officials will not be enforcing the lunchtime ban “until further ruling from the court.” Dr. Otto says the changes end there. “We didn't want to have to change our policy and then change it back if the appeal was successful,” he said. “Then it looks like we're really flip-flopping. The bottom line is, we're complying with the order,” he said. Plano has been the center of debate over religious expression since 2003, when school officials told an 8-year-old boy during a holiday party that he could not hand out pens that described the Christian origin of candy canes. The boy's parents sued the district in December 2004, alleging a pattern of violations of religious rights and free speech. Since then, district officials have tweaked the student expression policy over time. A decision about whether the old and new policies are constitutional is pending in federal court. At stake are hundreds of similar school district policies across Texas, Mr. Sasser said.
Dallas Morning News By Staci Hupp
[Editor’s Note: Plano’s current distribution policy is below. Background on the 2004 lawsuit is included in a Legal Clips issue, also below, that was devoted to then-current controversies related to religious holidays in public schools. The NSBA Council of School Attorneys (COSA) is offering a package of over 20 resources on legal considerations concerning holidays, available on a pay-for-download basis at the third link. A chart by NSBA Legal Research Specialist Tom Burns of court decisions about distribution of religious materials in schools is at the next link. The last link is to an article published by the Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA) listing 14 survival tips for school boards when it comes to controversies over religious expression in public schools.]
Plano school district policy
NSBA School law pages on controversies over religious holidays
COSA holiday bundle order information
NSBA chart on materials distribution caselaw
PSBA Bulletin article