Legal Question in Education Law in California

My (public) high school English teacher frequently implies religion in his lessons. For example, he read a passage from the bible he keeps on his shelf once because he said it was related to the piece of literature we were reading. He has said "Can I get an amen?" once after he said something inspirational, and said that we should not write in our journals on Sunday because it is the Sabbath. When we were learning about Greek literature, he maid a point to say that ancient Greek culture differs from "our Judeo-Christian values." He also makes a lot of sexist jokes that he defends by saying that "we do not have to be politically correct in this room", and intentionally passes papers out to the girls first. This definitely cannot be legal, can it?


Asked on 3/27/14, 8:30 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Andrew Harrell W. Andrew Harrell, Attorney at Law

Raise these issues first with the principal then your school board. If the conduct persist, contact the nearest chapter of the ACLU since this is a violation of the 1st amendment re state involvement in religion. The teacher should realize that the classroom likely has non-Christians, e.g., Muslims, Jews, Buddhists and atheists, who object to his interjection of Chrisianity.

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Answered on 3/27/14, 9:45 pm


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