DENVER — A Colorado Springs school district that was sued after banning students from praying and discussing religion during a free period has resolved the issue by eliminating the free period.
Attorneys for senior Chase Windebank have filed a motion to drop a federal lawsuit against Academy School District #20, citing in part Pine Creek High School’s removal of the free period, known as seminar, beginning next academic year.
Academy attorney Rob Zavaglia said the “total academic program change” was the result of a three-year committee review that was “wholly independent” of Mr. Windebank’s lawsuit, but the student’s attorneys aren’t buying it.
“Sadly, rather than allow Chase and the other students to pray during Seminar time, the District chose to cancel Seminar for this coming school year,” said Matt Sharp, an attorney for Alliance Defending Freedom, the conservative legal group that represented Mr. Windebank.
“We think this was an ill-advised decision that strips all students of an important time to build community and engage in discussion on a variety of topics — including religion and prayer,” Mr. Sharp said in an email. “But it is within the prerogative of the District to make that disappointing choice.”
While praying during free period is no longer an option, ADF attorneys said they were pleased that the district has agreed to allow student-led prayer and religious discussion during lunch.
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“Defendants have also lifted their ban on prayer during the school day, confirming that ’Plaintiff and his fellow students are welcome to sit together in the cafeteria during lunch to pray and discuss topics of religious interest,’” said the May 29 motion to dismiss.
But Mr. Zavaglia insisted that Pine Creek “never had, and does not have, a policy in place which restricts students’ rights to associate at lunch, and by extension to meet with others and discuss faith, pray, or talk about the news of the day from a Christian perspective at lunch.”
“As such, no nonexistent policy was revised to achieve the suit’s abandonment,” Mr. Zavaglia said in an email. “That allegation was disputed and would have been tried to the Court, to what we expect would have been a judgment in our favor. The dispute about meeting times centered on use of an academic period for a nonacademic, regular student group meeting during a credited student contact time.”
Mr. Sharp disagreed, pointing to an Oct. 9 letter from district legal relations director Patricia P. Richardson saying that Mr. Windebank “may resume his prayer meetings at Pine Creek High School, but he must do so during non-instructional time, that is before 7:45 a.m. when classes begin, and after 2:45 p.m., when classes end for the day.”
Allowing student-led prayer at lunch represents “a complete reversal of the District’s prior statements banning prayer at any time during the school day,” Mr. Sharp said.
“Our goal from day one was to ensure that Chase and all other students in the District had their freedom to engage in prayer and religious expression during free time properly respected by the school,” said Mr. Sharp. “Having achieved our original goal, we dismissed the case.”
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Mr. Windebank, who filed the lawsuit in November, won’t be around to participate in any lunch-time prayer sessions. He graduated from Pine Creek last month.
“We wish all of our recent graduates, including Mr. Windebank, the best in their future endeavors,” said Mr. Zavaglia.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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