A fourth grader in a school district in Florida was given a class assignment from his teacher.  The assignment asked the student to prepare a short paper on “My Favorite Holiday” or “My Favorite Season.”  Our client decided to write about his favorite holiday, which is Christmas.  This fourth grader understood that the significance of the Christmas season was the birth of Jesus Christ. 

The children were each told to read their paper in class.  When it was time for our student to begin his reading, he mentioned in the first paragraph of his story that Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus.  Initially, the teacher did not react in any way to this statement.  However, as the student continued to read his paper and was about to mention Jesus name again concerning the significance of the holiday, the teacher stopped him.  She told the student in front of the entire class that we are not to talk about religion.  She then instructed him to continue reading his story, but he would have to omit anything religious.  Remember, the topic was to choose and discuss your favorite holiday.  Of course, he was the only student who was told he could not read his story to the entire class.

Our legal team at the American Center for Law and Justice is already working on this, and we will continue to keep you posted.