Federal judge: District was right to bar student's religious gifts to classmates
By The Associated Press
02.16.02
EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP, N.J. — The Egg Harbor Board of Education did not violate a 5-year-old boy's constitutional rights when it barred him from giving classmates items with religious inscriptions, a federal judge has ruled.
The decision, issued Feb. 8 by U.S. District Judge Jerome Simandle, came in a lawsuit filed in 2000 by an advocacy group on behalf of Daniel Walz.
The suit involved two 1998 incidents in which Walz handed out pencils and candy canes with Christian messages at the H. Russell Swift School. Both times, the items were confiscated.
The Rutherford Institute, a Charlottesville, Va.-based religious-liberties group, argued in its suit that Walz was being discriminated against for his religious beliefs.
However, Simandle said "well-established precedent demonstrates" that the district acted appropriately.
Superintendent Leonard Kelpsh said he was happy with the ruling, although he was not sure if it could be called a victory.
"The courts have more clearly defined what we can and can't do as far as religious freedom in the schools," Kelpsh told The Press of Atlantic City for yesterday's editions.
Daniel's mother, Dana, said she planned to appeal the decision. Walz said her son, who is now 9, still passes out religious gifts.
"My kid just thinks he's being penalized," Dana Walz said.