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Vanessa M. Alvarez

College of Southern Nevada

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If a teacher were to refuse to participate in all activities deemed religious, would she still

be considered as abiding by the Establishment Clause? In this scenario, a kindergarten teacher

named Karen White states that she will not be participating in various activities that are seen as

“religious in nature” as it would be going against her religion as a Jehovah’s Witness.

Specifically, she claims that the following are religious: gift exchanges, holiday parties, singing

Happy Birthday, and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. Bill Ward, the principal of her elementary

school, feels that dismissal is most appropriate after receiving numerous complaints from

parents. Would Karen White’s dismissal be justified in this scenario or is she within her right to

refuse to participate in these activities?

One court case that would support Karen White is Wigg v. Sioux Falls District. In this

court case, an elementary school teacher, Wigg, attended an after-school club meeting that was

focused around religion. A coworker reported this to the principal and Wigg was told she could

not attend any further due to it possibly being perceived as “an establishment of religion”. Wigg

complied and stopped going however the courts found that due to the meeting being after school

and with a separate organization from the school, Wigg was acting as a private citizen. This court

case would benefit Karen White because her defense could be that if she were to be forced to

participate in these activities, it would be going against her religion, thus violating her freedom

of religion right. She could claim that although she is refusing to recite the Pledge of Allegiance,

sing Happy Birthday, and participate in holiday activities, she is not forcing her students to

follow suit.

Another court case that would support Karen White is West Virginia State Board of

Education v. Barnette. In this Supreme Court case, the children of Jehovah's Witnesses who, for
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religious purposes, refuse to salute the American Flag and recite the “Pledge of Allegiance” were

punished by being expelled from the school and would only be readmitted back if they agreed to

comply. This would inevitably cause the parents to also be reprimanded as it was deemed their

children were absent for more than legally allowed. The supreme court ruled that while

overturning a previous case, that the American flag was a mere symbol that only would

communicate ideas and that by requiring students to pledge allegiance to it, it was violating the

first amendment right to free speech. This court case would benefit Karen White because as she

is refusing to partake in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance due to her religion as a Jehovah’s

Witness, by forcing her to do so would also be an infringement on her right to free speech.

One court case that would oppose Karen White’s actions is Roberts v. Madigan. In this

District Court case, a fifth-grade teacher, Kenneth Roberts, was told by the principal of the

school, Madigan, to remove a poster he had displayed that read a religious saying, and to remove

his Bible from the student’s view during school hours. During another visit to Robert’s classroom

under the pretense that he had two religious books in his classroom library, Madigan told him he

would need to remove the books from his library as it was portraying that he was trying to

advance his religious views. When the case reached the District Court, the courts held that Mr.

Roberts claims that his right to free speech was being violated was not true and that in this case

the interest of the students right to be free of religious indoctrination. The courts said that

Madigan did not breach Robert’s freedom of expression and academic freedom as she was

deemed to be acting appropriately to prevent him from teaching religion. This court case would

oppose the actions of Karen White as teachers are supposed to refrain from stating their religious

views. As White was adamantly refusing to partake in certain activities and procedures due to her
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religion, this could be viewed as her pushing her religious views onto her students further

advancing her religion.

Another court case that would oppose Karen White’s actions is Stone v. Graham. This

Supreme Court case centered around a school that had posted the ten commandments in public

classrooms. After a Kentucky statute passed that required doing so, the courts found that it was

unconstitutional. The majority opinion claimed that by posting the ten commandments in public

classrooms, it showed the school sponsoring a specific religion. This support being shown by the

state government is specifically prohibited by the Establishment Clause. This court case would

oppose Karen White because she has outwardly shown support in being a Jehovah’s Witness and

had she decided to say that her reason for not participating was simply due to religious reasons

instead of specifying, she would have been protected. However, because she chose to say she

would not due to her beliefs as a Jehovah’s Witness, as a public employee enacting this also onto

her students, she would be seen as advancing her religion and forcing the students to also absolve

the students in participating as well.

To conclude, I believe that based on the court cases presented, there is not enough to

justify the dismissal of Karen White. Although she outwardly states that she due to her religion

she will not be doing activities that are “religious in nature”, it also prevents the school from

looking as though they are establishing a religion. In the scenario, it seems as though Karen

White is specifically stating that she will not be participating, however, she never says she will

forbid her students from doing so in her class as well. I believe that although Karen White should

have stated very vaguely that she could not participate due to religious reasons, it isn’t clear

whether she told parents and students that she was a Jehovah’s Witness or just Bill Ward who is

her superior and because of this, a dismissal is considered unjust.

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References

Wigg v. Sioux Falls District 382 F.3d 807 (8th Cir. 2004)

West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette (319 US 624)

Roberts v. Madigan 921 F.2d 1047 (10th Cir. 1990)

Stone v. Graham 449 U.S. 1104 (1981)