Tri-State Freethinkers received an e-mail from a concerned parent and student at Conner Middle School in Northern Kentucky. The parent explained that last year, the school had a Baptist group come in the mornings to meet with students in the building, bring them breakfast, and minister to children. The group suddenly quit meeting last year, but to the parent’s surprise, the group was announced to begin again for the 2016 school year.
The Tri-State Freethinkers wrote a letter the day before the group was scheduled to meet, to the school principal, copying the Superintendent, informing them of the violation, and reminding them of the State’s duty to remain neutral with regards to religion. Here is an excerpt from our letter:
School endorsement of Christianity is particularly troubling for those parents and students who are not Christians. The “[s]chool sponsorship of a religious message is impermissible because it sends the ancillary message to members of the audience who are nonadherents ‘that they are outsiders, not full members of the political community and accompanying message to adherents that they are insiders, favored members of the political community.” Santa Fe Indep. Sch. Dist. v. Doe, 530 U.S. 290, 309-10 (2001)(quoting Lynch v. Donnelly, 465 U.S. at 668)(O’Connor, J., concurring).
It is a violation of the Establishment Clause for Conner Middle School to promote, organize, or host religious instruction in the school. Even the name of the program, Conner Christian Breakfast Club, sends a clear message to students and their families that this program is supported by the school.
Tri-State Freethinkers received word from a teacher working within the school that within a few hours of the letter being sent, an announcement was made that the Breakfast Club was cancelled. We then received a letter from the school district’s attorneys.
They stated that because the group had never met, that there was no violation, and the school was “proceeding in accordance with policy and applicable law”.
While we are disappointed that the school hides behind the fact that our notice was what prevented the group from meeting, we are nonetheless happy that the students of Conner Middle School will not be subjected to the school’s unconstitutional endorsement of Christianity.
