ACLU Prepares to Sue Sumner County Schools

In case you hadn’t heard, via the Tennessean:

A complaint made by American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee on behalf of three Sumner County families accuses the Sumner County Board of Education of promoting Christianity and violating the U.S. Constitution.

The parents of seven students who attend Beech High School, T.W. Hunter, Indian Lake Elementary, and Madison Creek Elementary waged the complaint, alleging the school system has shown a pattern of endorsing religion since at least 2006.

The complaint alleges several examples of the school system promoting Christianity, including the distribution of Bibles in at least two schools; a teacher who displayed a cross on a classroom wall; sectarian prayers over the loudspeaker and at school events; and graduation ceremonies for three high schools at Long Hollow Baptist Church.

“At this point we are aware of the allegations, and we have advised the Board of Education to take all precautions necessary to make sure they are operating in a constitutional way,” said Wesley H. Southerland, an attorney with the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), a conservative, nonprofit public interest law firm unanimously hired by the board April 19.

Note: There’s no lawsuit yet.  I’ll get into the complaint a bit more later (if I can get a hold of it), but suffice it to say, it sounds pretty similar to what was going on in Cheatham County a year or so ago (especially the stuff about the Gideons), and Wilson County before that.  Keep a weather eye open.

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