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[STK]
[IN] EDU
[SU] LAW REL NPT
-- WITH PHOTO -- TO EDUCATION, NATIONAL, AND RELIGION EDITORS:
Florida School Cafeteria Worker Rebukes 5-Year-Old Student: Saying
Grace Over Lunch "Is Not Good!"
OVIEDO, Fla., April 1, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, Liberty
Institute attorneys sent a demand letter, on behalf of clients Marcos
Perez and his daughter, to school administrators at Carillon
Elementary School in Oviedo, Florida, requesting that school officials
cease engaging in religious discrimination in violation of federal and
state law. Last week, a school lunchroom supervisor told Marcos
Perez's 5-year-old daughter that it was wrong to bow her head in
prayer before she ate her lunch. Follow this link to view an online
copy of the demand letter:
http://www.libertyinstitute.org/document.doc?id=139
Press Availability : Liberty Institute Senior Counsel Jeremy Dys
invites all working media to attend a press availability with Mr.
Perez, Tuesday, April 1, at 3:30 PM ET on the sidewalk by the sign
outside of Carillon Elementary School, 3200 Lockwood Blvd., Oviedo,
FL.
"Of course, students can pray at school!" said Dys. "As the Supreme
Court held over half a century ago: Students do not 'shed their
constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the
schoolhouse gate.' The school is in violation of Department of
Education guidelines that specifically protect this type of prayer,
and thus could jeopardize its federal funding."
The Perez Family cited this offense to their daughter's religious
liberty as the most immediate reason to remove their daughter from the
public education system. "Mainly because of this incident, we have
exercised our option as parents to teach our daughter at home," said
Marcos Perez. "We live in a very good school district, but we cannot,
in good conscience, send our daughter to a school where her religious
liberty has been compromised."
Liberty Institute continues to investigate this situation on behalf of
its clients and other students, who experience unnecessary censoring
of their religious liberty while at school. Last Fall, Liberty
Institute represented 10-year-old Erin Shead, whose teacher informed
her that she could not write an essay about Jesus as her hero. That
situation lead to the Tennessee General Assembly passing a bill with
overwhelming bipartisan support to expand student religious liberty.
Similarly, Liberty Institute is still investigating claims by a mother
in South Carolina, who was told that her 8-year-old daughter could not
complete a similar school assignment for fear of violating the
so-called, "separation of church and state."
About Liberty Institute Liberty Institute is a national nonprofit
legal group dedicated to defending and restoring religious liberty
across America - in our schools, for our churches, inside our military
and throughout the public arena. Liberty's vision is to reestablish
religious liberty in accordance with the principles of our Founding
Fathers. For information, visit www.LibertyInstitute.org.
Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120523/DC12743LOGO-b
SOURCE Liberty Institute
-0- 04/01/2014
/CONTACT: Gregg Wooding, Cell: 214.558.9455, Office: 972.941.4453, gwooding@libertyinstitute.org
/Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120523/DC12743LOGO-b
/Web Site: http://www.libertyinstitute.org
CO: Liberty Institute
ST: Florida
IN: EDU
SU: LAW REL NPT
PRN
-- DC95136 --
0000 04/01/2014 12:00:00 EDT http://www.prnewswire.com
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