ACLU Calls Bridgeport High School Settlement a Victory For Freedom of Religion
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 20, 2006
CONTACT:
Andrew Schneider.
(304) 345-9246
CHARLESTON, WV – In a victory for religious freedom, a federal judge approved a settlement in which the Harrison County Board of Education agreed not to post any more unconstitutional displays endorsing religion. The settlement ensures school officials will neither restore the portrait nor a replica to the school nor post unconstitutional pictures, paintings, posters or other items with religious content. It ends a divisive episode that threatened to distract attention from the school’s educational mission.
On behalf of Bridgeport residents Harold Sklar and Jacqueline McKenzie, the American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia and Americans United for Separation of Church and State filed a lawsuit in June asking the court to order the removal of the large, prominently displayed reproduction of Warner Sallman’s “Head of Christ” outside the principal’s office. School officials had refused to remove the picture despite numerous complaints over the years.
After a thief broke into the school and stole the portrait in August, a board member vowed to return it to its place on the wall and private funds were raised to help fight the lawsuit. Further consideration by the Board at an October 6 meeting, however, led to a 4-1 vote to settle the case. In return for the Board’s promise not to post unconstitutional religious displays in the high school, the ACLU and AU agreed to waive attorneys’ fees and costs.
“The Board is to be commended for recognizing that public schools should not be in the business of sponsoring religion,” said Andrew Schneider, Executive Director of the ACLU of West Virginia. “The settlement preserves the freedom of all Bridgeport High School students and their parents to worship or not as they choose.”
The Court will retain jurisdiction of the case should an action to enforce the agreement become necessary.
The plaintiffs were represented by lead counsel Richard Katskee of Americans United, and Terri Baur of the ACLU of West Virginia Foundation.
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