What is the established Religion of Bridgeport High School?
Answer these Questions
If a principal is not going to perform that part of his job, should he be replaced by someone who will? Who supervises the principal to assure that he is acting in accordance with his committment to the constitution and the law? Should that person be fired if they are not adequately supervising the principal who is not executing the school administration in accordance with the law? And how about the superintendant of schools for Harrison County? Should he not know the laws of the US and WV as well as, the policies of the state Board of Education? And if he is not setting an enforcement policy among his subordinate managers, should he also be replaced by someone who will?
Why are some issues brought to the level of the Board of Education and discussed on TV when the real solution is to hold managers responsible for either doing their job or removing them? Every single manager (principal) and their county supervisor got their job by claiming that they will obey and carry out the laws of our country and state. If they are not going to do it, then why keep them?
Who owns the picture? The county or an individual? Who determines what public or privately owned pictures may hang on the public wall? Who made that decision? What is the Law? And who is not following it? Will there be consequences for not following it? If you are on the Board of Education should you not be embarrassed that you have not all ready answered these questions and taken the appropriate action?
posted by Gundovald at 3/21/2006 11:01:00 PM
12 Comments:
In upholding a Kentucky county's right to display the Ten Commandments, the panel called the American Civil Liberties Union's repeated claims to the contrary "extra-constitutional" and "tiresome." (See Cincinnati Enquirer at: http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051221/NEWS01/512210356/1056)
6th Circuit Judge Richard Suhrheinrich wrote in the unanimous decision: "The ACLU makes repeated reference to the 'separation of church and state.' This extra-constitutional construct has grown tiresome. The First Amendment does not demand a wall of separation between church and state. Our nation's history is replete with governmental acknowledgment and in some cases, accommodation of religion."
http://www.answers.com/topic/separation-of-church-and-state-in-the-united-states
This is one of the statements the Judges made in deciding the Michigan case:
"The primary effect of the school's display of the picture is to advance religion in general and Christianity in particular."
I don't think this statement applies to the Bridgeport case.
What is the Law?
I can answer this one.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati upheld a lower court opinion that the prominent display of a portrait of the religious character Jesus in a public school is unconstitutional.
The picture may have to come down,but there are other alternatives for these kids.
A Bible Club comes to mind.
They could use the schools facilities after hours to promote it.
These guys do an excellent job of defending student rights.
The ACLJ is an international public interest law firm and educational organization that focuses on defending the First Amendment rights of people of faith. The ACLJ is headquartered in Virginia Beach, VA.
http://www.aclj.org/news/Read.aspx?ID=324
I appreciate all of the good comments and research that many of you have made. I did some of my own before publishing that piece and share some of your conclusions. I don't see how anyone can avoid saying that the picture is illegal based on the 1994 case out of the 6th Circuit. Same picture. Same everything as far as I can tell.
What gripes me are school administrators not earning their keep by making the hard decisions early on rather than ducking their responsibility to direct conformance with the law. I appreciate the other suggestions, perhaps based on your research, that other forms of religious expressions is permissable; i.e., student initiated Bible study, etc.
I would never be so arrogant as to tell any of you how you must worship or what you should believe. I trust that you would pay me the same respect if we were law-abiding neighbors. given my libertarian streak, I resent the idea that in a Government-sponsored School, BHS, there is a person who thinks they are above the law and can choose without permission to choose a religious icon for display. And I further resent the lack of management guts in the school hierachy to set him straight. There are a lot of highly paid administrators not doing their jobs. If they had been we would have never heard about this issue because it would have been handled locally. If you disagree, please once again, read my list of questions and tell me what the answers are about who's in charge and who is to make these decisions. Then ask yourself why every school in the county is not breaking the law too, and why this local management should get away with it. What else is he getting away with?
This debacle with the Jesus picture may end up costing us Tax payers a lot of Money. I think the board will have to answer for that.
I hope that's not the case but given their arrogant attitude toward the complaints it may happen
What are the responsibilities of a principal towards carrying out the laws of the United States and West Virginia in regard to separation of church and state.
Hey Gundovald.
I have a question for you.
Where did you come up with that phrase "separation of church and state" ? It's not in the US Constitution, not in the Bill of Rights either. This is all it says....
Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
In my opinion this
phrase has got a lot of School administrators into trouble causeing them to violate the rights of their students.
The phrase separation of church and state is a common interpretation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, which reads, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof . . . ." The phrase itself does not appear in any founding American document, but it has been quoted in opinions by the United States Supreme Court. (The first such mention was in Reynolds v. United States, 98 U.S. 145 in 1878.)
Who cares where the phrase separation of church and state comes from? I have to agree that the real issue is - why didn't the principal take care of the problem at his level rather than letting it get to the Board of Ed? And now that Dr. Frieble had it in his hands, it is now passed on to the Board for a decision. I will guess that they will drag this out as to where they won't make a decision till after the election. All they are worried about is getting re-elected to office, not stepping up to the plate and making a decision. Let's get their votes prior to the election to see where the Board members stand? Just because the majority of the students want the picture, does that make it legal to have it? Since the majority fo the driver's like to speed does that mean we should do away with the speed limit?
J.T.H
Watch Fox's Shawn Hannity for a couple of minutes (that's about all one stomach can take); he makes Tim Brady look like "Lady justice".
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