The Santa Rosa, Florida saga has added a new minor chapter after a federal judge ruled that teachers may indeed participate in Baccalaureate services while their lawsuit proceeds. The suit, you may recall, challenges a consent decree entered into by the county and the ACLU agreeing that teachers (among other things) will not participate in religious activity engaged in voluntarily by students. School officials had interpreted that agreement to mean that Baccalaureate ceremonies were also off limits. Not so, says the judge.
"This is the only claim involving allegations of school officials threatening discipline for private conduct outside of school or a school event," the judge wrote. "A private religious service is not a school event, even if it takes place in rented school facilities."
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ACLU attorney Benjamin Stevenson said that the judge's decision made it clear that school employees may, as individuals, practice their faith in privately sponsored religious activities."We don't think the consent decree inhibits that whatsoever," he said. "What it addressed was school employees using their official positions to promote their personal religious beliefs. That hasn't changed."
