Doe v. Wilson County School System

• Decision Date: 09 November 2007
• Docket Number: No. 3:06-0924.,3:06-0924.
• Citation: 524 F.Supp.2d 964
• Parties: John DOE and Jane Doe, as the Natural Parents and Next Friends of Their Minor Child, James Doe, Plaintiffs, v. The WILSON COUNTY SCHOOL SYTEM; Dr. Jim Duncan, Individually and as Director of Wilson County Schools; Wendell Marlowe, Principal of the Lakeview Elementary School; Yvonne Smith, Assistant Principal of Lakeview Elementary School; and Janet Adamson, Teacher at Lakeview Elementary School, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Middle District of Tennessee

524 F.Supp.2d 964

John DOE and Jane Doe, as the Natural Parents and Next Friends of Their Minor Child, James Doe, Plaintiffs, v. The WILSON COUNTY SCHOOL SYTEM; Dr. Jim Duncan, Individually and as Director of Wilson County Schools; Wendell Marlowe, Principal of the Lakeview Elementary School; Yvonne Smith, Assistant Principal of Lakeview Elementary School; and Janet Adamson, Teacher at Lakeview Elementary School, Defendants.

No. 3:06-0924.

United States District Court, M.D. Tennessee, Nashville Division.

November 9, 2007.

Edmund J. Schmidt, HI, Law Offices of David Randolph Smith & Edmund J. Schmidt, III, Susan Laurie Kay, Vanderbilt Legal Clinic, Tricia Herzfeld, ACLU Foundation of Tennessee, Nashville, TN, for Plaintiffs.

David A. Changas, Winston N. Harless, Lewis, King, Krieg & Waldrop, P.C., Nashville, TN, Michael Ray Jennings, Lebanon, TN, Larry Lamont Crain, Brentwood, TN, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM

ROBERT L. ECHOLS, District Judge.

Before the Court are Defendants' Motion For Summary Judgment (Docket Entry No. 73) and Intervenor-Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment (Docket Entry No. 77), to which Plaintiffs responded in opposition.

Plaintiffs John Doe and Jane Doe, on behalf of their son James Doe,¹ allege that Lakeview Elementary School ("Lakeview") in the public Wilson County School System engages in a pattern and practice of officially endorsing religious activities and particular religious beliefs. Plaintiffs do not oppose the rights of students to pray at school or to express their religious beliefs. Rather, Plaintiffs allege they are offended and injured by Lakeview's repeated promotion and endorsement of Christianity. They seek injunctive relief to preclude Defendants from continuing to engage in a pattern and practice of official endorsement of religious activities and particular religious beliefs.

At all material times alleged in the Complaint, Dr. Jim Duncan, Wendell Marlowe, Yvonne Smith and Janet Adamson were employees of the Wilson County Board of Education. Dr. Duncan served as director of schools; Marlowe was principal of Lakeview, having held that position more than twenty years; Ms. Smith was assistant principal of Lakeview; and Ms. Adamson was a kindergarten teacher at Lakeview. During the 2005-2006 school year, Plaintiffs enrolled their five-year old son, James Doe, in kindergarten at Lakeview, and his assigned teacher was Ms. Adamson. Since the 2005-2006 school year, James Doe has been taught at home by his mother. The interpleading Defendants, Doug and Christy Gold and James and Jennifer Walker, are parents of children who attended Lakeview in 2005-2006 and who attend the school presently.

Most of the pertinent facts are undisputed, but where factual disputes exist,' the Court examines the facts in the light most favorable to Plaintiffs, as the Court is required to do on a motion for summary judgment. Plaintiffs did, not file a separate motion for summary judgment in their favor.

I. FACTS

Lakeview is a small school with classes from kindergarten through fifth grade. The typical student is 5 to 12 years of age. The school day at Lakeview begins at 7:15 a.m. and ends at 2:15 p.m. Largely because of the age of the students and the availability of activities in the community, there are no student clubs, sports teams or extracurricular activities conducted by Lakeview.

The school facility is used after school hours for meetings and activities, such as Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts, and Tae Kwon-Do classes. Lakeview has written policies allowing facilities to be used for public, governmental, charitable, civic, recreational, and cultural purposes, and allowing community, educational, charitable, recreational, and other similar civic groups to advertise events in the school newsletter that are pertinent to students' interests or involvement. (Docket Entry No. 77-3 & 77-4.) Many community events have been advertised in the school newsletter, including a food drive conducted by the Cub Scouts, a sock hop, skate nights, a closet consignment sale and activities of the West Wilson Community Arts Alliance.

Concerning religious beliefs and holidays, the Wilson County Board of Education adopted the following policy, Number 4.803, effective June 3, 2004:

No religious belief or nonbelief shall be promoted by the school system or its employees and none shall be belittled. All students and staff members shall be tolerant of each other's views. The school system shall use its opportunity to foster understanding and mutual respect among students and parents, whether it involves race, culture, economic background or religious beliefs. [footnote omitted] In that spirit of tolerance, students and staff members shall be excused from participating in practices which are contrary to their religious beliefs.

RELIGIOUS HOLIDAYS

Observance of religious holidays [footnote omitted] shall be as follows:

1. The several holidays throughout the year which have both a religious and a secular basis may be observed in the public schools; [footnote omitted]

2. The historical and contemporary values and the origin of religious holidays may be explained in an unbiased and objective manner without sectarian indoctrination;

3. Music, art, literature and drama having religious themes or basis are permitted as part of the curriculum for school sponsored activities and programs if presented in a prudent and objective manner and as a traditional part of the cultural and religious heritage of the particular holiday;

4. The use of religious symbols that are part of a religious holiday are permitted as a teaching aid or resource, provided such symbols are displayed as an example of the cultural and religious heritage of the holiday and are temporary in nature[;]

5. The school district's calendar shall be prepared so as to minimize conflicts with religious holidays of all faiths.

(Docket Entry No. 74-7 at 2.) At least once each school year, Dr. Duncan spoke to school administrators and supervisors about religious activities in the schools. He wanted administrators to be very mindful of the rights of others concerning religious activities that occur on school grounds and "for us not to get ourselves into a situation where it could be viewed that a particular religious organization was there to proselytize students and/or faculty members." (Marlowe Depo. at 36-37.) Dr. Duncan received very few, if any, requests to permit religious material to be sent home with students. (Duncan Depo. at 14.) He testified that he informed school principals that they could observe activities sponsored by church groups to maintain order and prevent any potential damage to school property but that the principals and teachers could not be active participants in religious activities. (Duncan Depo. at 20-21, 29.)

Lakeview parents, particularly those with children in the lower grades, may volunteer as teacher helpers and work in the classroom alongside the teacher during class hours. Responsibilities of the parent volunteers are determined by the teachers. Lakeview students are taught to respect adult authority figures, and volunteer parents are given the same level of respect as teachers. However, volunteer parents have no role in the discipline of students, they are not provided access to confidential academic testing or behavioral inforillation, and they do not participate in any faculty or staff meetings. All visitors to Lakeview, including volunteer parents, must sign in and out at the office and wear a visitor's badge while present in the school.

During the 2005-2006 school year, Jane Doe served periodically as a volunteer teacher helper in Ms. Adamson's classroom where her son was a student. Intervenor Defendants Jennifer Walker and Christy Gold also served as volunteer teacher helpers in their children's classrooms.

In addition to serving as a volunteer teacher helper, Ms. Walker organized an adult group at Lakeview known as the Praying Parents. Christy Gold is a member of Praying Parents. The Walkers and the Golds state that they are Christians who believe it is important to participate in their children's education and to communicate their faith to their children and to others. The Praying Parents publicly describe themselves on their internet webpage as follows:

"Praying Parents" is a group of Lakeview parents who meet once a month to pray for our school, faculty, staff, and children. We pray, for specific needs as well as for school-related issues. We also try to provide occasional "treats" for our faculty and staff to remind them that we are praying for them. Praying Parents is not affiliated with any organization, nor do we promote a political agenda. We're just a group of parents who want to make an investment in our children's school through prayer.

(Docket Entry No. 1, Complaint Ex. 1.) The Praying Parents group is entirely financed by private parties. With' Marlowe's permission, the Praying Parents' webpage was linked to the Lakeview website.

The Praying Parents meet at Lakeview on the first Friday of every month at 7:15 to 8:15 a.m., during the first hour of the school day. The Does have not witnessed a Praying Parents meeting. Although the Praying Parents meet in a partitioned area of the school cafeteria without the presence of school administrators, teachers, staff or students, Jane Doe testified that her son was well aware that the group meets regularly at the school.

According to Jane Doe, Praying Parents can be seen walking through school hallways during the school day, and they enter the teacher's lounge at will to leave flyers about Praying Parents events and treats for the teachers in the teachers' mailboxes.² If a teacher requests prayer, the Praying Parents pray for that teacher and place a prayer response card in the teacher's mailbox. The Praying Parents place sufficient numbers of their flyers in the teachers' mailboxes so that the teachers can put one flyer in each student's folder. The student...