by Jayla Ward • 6 minutes
It’s back-to-school season! As the school year gets underway, there may be some questions surrounding faith and religious expression in the classroom. You might be asking, how can I, as a teacher, do my job as the school requires, while remaining faithful to my beliefs?
Do I have to check my religious convictions at the door?
We asked First Liberty attorney Keisha Russell—who is on the front lines of the fight for religious freedom in schools—to answer five of the most frequently asked questions about teachers’ rights.
1. Do teachers get private speech?
The main thing to remember is that teachers do not lose their constitutional rights just because they are in school.
When you are on your breaks or at faculty meetings, these are times when you are permitted to have personal and private speech.
For example, if people are allowed to post things in the break room like wedding invitations or advertising for a car they’re selling, then teachers and faculty should be able to put up a list for people who maybe want some prayer, or a flyer for a church event. Just because the content is religious, it doesn’t mean the school can censor it. If the school allows others to speak privately in the break room or other common areas, then the school must allow private religious speech as well.
In our Coach Kennedy case, the Supreme Court ruled that teachers and public school employees have religious liberty in and out of the classroom. The Kennedy decision corrected 50 years of religious freedom law that made teachers afraid to live out their faith. It set a precedent for teachers and administrators to openly pray or have a religious item in view of students.
Now, public school employees can express their beliefs on campus without punishment. The religious speech of teachers is private speech, not government speech.
2. How should I respond if my school or district asks me to do something that conflicts with my religious beliefs or expression?
You would ask for a religious accommodation. You can write your supervisor or whoever is in charge, and say I have a religious issue with being able to either teach this content, or I can’t come to this particular event because I have a religious meeting. I’m asking for a religious accommodation for this so that I’m not punished for not being able to attend or teach this material.
If the school district can accommodate you, they should. They are required to do so under federal law.
In Groff v. DeJoy, First Liberty’s Faithful Carrier case, the U.S. Supreme Court made it clear that employers must accommodate religious beliefs, unless they can show a substantial increased cost to the business. That precedent strengthened legal protections for people of faith at work by setting a very high bar for employers to deny a religious accommodation.
I would also say that you should get the school district’s reply in writing, so that you have a record of their response.
If your accommodation request is denied, my No. 1 recommendation is to call First Liberty or submit a request for free legal help. Our legal team can review your situation and see what we can do to help.
3. How do I draft a request for a religious accommodation?
Here are a couple of tips on how to request a religious accommodation. It doesn’t have to be fancy.
When requesting an accommodation, keep the following points in mind:
4. Can I pray for my student if they ask me to?
I think it is totally fine for a teacher to pray for a single student who has asked outside of instructional time. I would avoid any kind of group prayer.
But if a student comes up to you in the hallway or even during lunch or what you would call “free time,” I think it is perfectly fine to pray for that student. Do a quick, brief prayer and send that student on their way.
I would say that a lot of people would not want to turn someone away when they ask for prayer. There’s definitely a religious conviction attached to prayer, so we could fight for a teacher or faculty member if they got in trouble for that.
But like I said, you can’t lead students in prayer in class. You don’t want to evangelize in public schools. If you are at a private school, then you may have a lot more freedom to express your beliefs.
5. Can I wear a T-shirt that has a religious message for a casual Friday or school event, or any other religious personal item?
It depends on what’s allowed for other teachers. If other teachers can choose what they want to wear, like sports memorabilia or a casual t-shirt, then yes, you should be able to wear a shirt that says “Jesus Is Lord” or any other religious message or symbol.
The only way you wouldn’t be able to do that is if the school has a policy that teachers can’t wear anything other than, let’s say, a uniform or school shirts. And because that is a policy for everyone, that would still stand.
But teachers should know that, yes, you should be able to wear your cross, or your hijab, or your yarmulke, or any other religious item in school without it being a problem. Public schools are supposed to accommodate your religious convictions and protect your private speech.
We are currently fighting a case for a Connecticut school teacher, Marisol Castro. She is a teacher who has been a part of the public school system for 30 years. The school district is threatening to fire her for displaying a small crucifix on her desk.
That’s against the law. She is completely within her rights to keep her crucifix in view of students, especially in light of Supreme Court precedent. But the school district refuses to acknowledge that.
Always remember your religious speech is just as protected as everyone else’s. Even if you’re in a government building or you work for the government, you can be a religious person. Your religious liberty rights under the law and the Constitution will follow you wherever you go.
If you have more questions, please reach out to First Liberty for legal assistance.
 |
|
|
