Ohio school district welcomes fliers…as long as they’re not religious

CLEVELAND — Alliance Defense Fund attorneys representing several community members in a “moms group” filed a lawsuit Friday against the Garfield Heights Board of Education for prohibiting the distribution of one of the group’s fliers. The fliers invited 4th- and 5th-grade students to attend the “After School Christmas Story Hour” held at a church just walking distance from Maple Leaf Intermediate School.

Other community groups and individuals are allowed to freely distribute their fliers and ads, which are sent home with students, yet school officials wrongly allege that the Christmas invitations--complete with a parental permission slip--violate the so-called “separation of church and state.”  ADF attorneys contend that the new district policy banning religious fliers violates the constitutionally protected rights of the program’s organizers.

“Christians shouldn’t be discriminated against for their religious expression,” said ADF Senior Counsel David Cortman. “When fliers for numerous community groups and individuals are permitted, to the exclusion of ones with ‘religious content,’ that’s a textbook violation of free speech protected by the First Amendment.”

Last December, Maple Leaf Principal Gwen Abraham informed the group that a new district policy bans religious fliers. Later that month, Superintendent Linda Reid backed the denial, citing the “laws of separation between church and state.”

In January, the moms group sent an e-mail to each Board of Education member inquiring about the new policy, yet they received no response. A second e-mail questioning the religious flier ban was sent later that month to Reid. She admitted that fliers for a Halloween skate party, an indoor soccer program, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and the American Heart Association “Jump Rope for Heart” event were allowed to be handed out, but insisted that fliers with religious content were strictly prohibited. Reid told the group that it could instead place 25 fliers in the school’s office for students to pick up. No other community groups or individuals are restricted to placing a limited number of fliers in the office, which has no designated location for such fliers.

Kurt D. Anderson of Elyria, Ohio, one of nearly 1,900 attorneys in the ADF alliance, is serving as local counsel in the lawsuit Michalek v. Garfield Heights Board of Education, which was filed with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, Eastern Division.

• Pronunciation guide: Michalek (MISH’-uh-lek)

ADF is a legal alliance of Christian attorneys and like-minded organizations defending the right of people to freely live out their faith. Launched in 1994, ADF employs a unique combination of strategy, training, funding, and litigation to protect and preserve religious liberty, the sanctity of life, marriage, and the family.