ENFIELD, Conn. (ABP) — A Connecticut school board voted June 8 to appeal a federal judge's ruling that holding high-school graduation ceremonies at a local church is unconstitutional, reversing a vote a week earlier to lay the matter to rest.
The Enfield Board of Education voted 5-4 on June 3 to hold graduations on campus at the town's two high schools after U.S. District Judge Janet Hall issued an injunction May 31 blocking plans to hold the ceremonies at First Cathedral, an 11,000-member mega-church originally named the First Baptist Church.
The re-vote came at the request of a board member who said she wanted to make sure the school district had considered all options before dropping the issue.
Board member Donna Szewczak told the Hartford Courant she voted to approve the appeal after voting against it the week before because "we needed to take a strong stance" and strengthen the district's defense against a May lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
The American Center for Law and Justice, which is representing the school district, said it would ask the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York to hear an expedited appeal.
"We believe we have a strong case to appeal," said Vincent McCarthy, ACLJ senior attorney representing the school board. "There is no constitutional crisis when a secular event is held in a religious facility. The law in this area has long been settled."
The ACLU and AU lawsuit claims that holding graduations in a church sanctuary filled with religious symbols and literature while other secular venues are available endorses religion in a way prohibited by the First Amendment.
In her injunction order, Judge Hall said forcing non-Christians to choose between attending a graduation surrounded by Christian symbols or missing it outright would be coercive and that requiring the church to cover or remove such objects would violate the congregation's right to make religious decisions without government interference.
The school district began holding graduations at First Cathedral as a temporary measure because school construction projects made campuses at Enfield High School and Enrico Fermi High School unavailable in 2007 and 2008.
In November the ACLU, ACLU of Connecticut and AU wrote a letter threatening to sue Enfield school officials if they did not move this year's ceremonies to one of a number of secular locations available in the area.
In January the school board voted 6-3 to hold the two graduations in 2010 on school property, but a month later rescinded the decision by a vote of 5-3. That was after lobbying by the Family Institute of Connecticut, a conservative Christian group that encouraged board members to defend the decision to use the church as a religious-liberty issue.
Americans United and the ACLU sued the district on behalf of two students and three parents who said they would feel uncomfortable attending graduation surrounded by Christian symbols.
Judge Hall said it is uncertain if pressure from the conservative group influenced the board to change its mind, but that under the circumstances a reasonable observer would conclude that changing the original vote was an endorsement of the religious views of the church.
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Previous ABP stories:
Conn. school board won't appeal ban on graduations in church building
Judge says school cannot hold graduation ceremony in church