Sikhs Barred from Oregon and Pennsylvania Schools

Mai ji

I doubt that it will have any effect at all on the topic we are discussing -- wearing religious garb (turban or kirpan) and symbols (a cross or star of David) by an employee of a state agency in Oregon or Pennsylvania (in schools, police departments, state level courts, etc.)-- as a Sikh or as a member of any other religion. The ban applies to everyone not just Sikhs. And the ban is included as part of the School Code in PA. I don' see anything related to schools or the school code in this petition. It appears to be about prayers before the state legislature.
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/saldef/24950-sikhs-barred-from-oregon-pennsylvania-schools.html
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=24950

There may be a long-term impact on the saying of prayers in schools, but none on the wearing of religious garb or symbols.

 
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Here is an old 2003 case. A teacher's aide was suspended for wearing a cross.

ACLJ Files Federal Lawsuit Against PA School Agency after Teacher's Aide Suspended for Wearing Cross.



Link to this page
<a href="http://www.thefreelibrary.com/ACLJ+Files+Federal+Lawsuit+Against+PA+School+Agenc y+after+Teacher%27s...-a0101279461">ACLJ Files Federal Lawsuit Against PA School Agency after Teacher's Aide Suspended for Wearing Cross.</a>
Business Editors/Legal Writers

PITTSBURGH--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 6, 2003

The American Center The American Center is a high-rise tower in Southfield, Michigan. It was built in 1975 and stands at 26 floors, with one basement floor, for a total of 27.

The building's main use is that of a typical office tower. It also includes a parking garage and retail spaces. for Law and Justice, an international public interest law firm specializing in constitutional law, today filed a federal lawsuit against an educational agency in Western Pennsylvania Western Pennsylvania consists of the western third of the state of Pennsylvania in the United States.
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=24950

Pittsburgh is the largest city in the region, with a metropolitan area of about 2.4 million people, and is the cultural center for Western Pennsylvania. after officials suspended an employee - a teacher's aide "Teacher's Aide" is an episode of the television series The New Twilight Zone. Cast

• Miss Peters: Adrienne Barbeau
• Wizard: Adam Postil
• Trojan: Miguel Nunez, Jr.

for wearing a cross pendant on her necklace.

"The actions taken by this agency represent a serious violation of our client's constitutional rights," said Vincent McCarthy, Senior Counsel of the ACLJ ACLJ American Center for Law and Justice

ACLJ Appleseed Center for Law and Justice (Washington, DC) , which is representing the teacher's aide. "The law is very clear on this issue - school personnel do not shed their constitutional freedoms when they enter the school house door. To punish a teacher's aide for merely expressing her free speech rights is not only wrong, but unconstitutional. We're confident that the court will correct this injustice and protect the First Amendment rights of our client."

The ACLJ today filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh, PA on behalf of Brenda Nichol, a teacher's aide from Glen Campbell For the town in Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, see .

Adams County

• Adams Central Community Schools – Web site

and Armstrong Counties.

Nichol works as an Instructional Assistant in the Penns Manor Area Elementary School in Clymer, PA and, according to the suit, was notified by ARIN officials last month that a one-and-a-quarter inch cross pendant that she had been wearing on her necklace would either have to be concealed by clothing or removed. ARIN officials contend the cross pendant violates their policy and the state's religious garb prohibition of the Pennsylvania Public School Code that dates back to 1895.

The complaint contends that Nichol told ARIN officials that the cross is a symbol of her religious faith and to remove it or conceal it would violate her religious beliefs. Nichol was initially suspended from her job on April 8th and was notified on April 16th that her suspension would be for one year without pay.

The suit names as defendants ARIN Intermediate Unit 28, its executive director and several other supervisors. The suit contends that the actions of the agency violate the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution and Pennsylvania law including the state's Religious Freedom Protection Act. Nichol also will file a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and will pursue charges that the suspension violated federal law.

The suit requests that the court declare ARIN's policy and the state's religious garb prohibition to be unconstitutional and requests that the court issue injunctive relief injunctive relief n. a court-ordered act or prohibition against an act or condition which has been requested, and sometimes granted, in a petition to the court for an injunction. - prohibiting ARIN from continuing its discriminatory action, restoring Nichol's employment, and removing the suspension from her employment record.

"There is nothing wrong with Brenda Nichol wearing a cross pendant to work," said McCarthy. "This is a legitimate desire to exercise her deeply held religious beliefs in a manner that is consistent with both state and federal law. To be suspended for wearing a cross pendant to work represents religious discrimination that violates the constitutional rights of our client."

The ACLJ is being assisted in the case by attorney Joseph L. Luciana, III of the Pittsburgh firm, Kirkpatrick & Lockhart, LLP LLP - Lower Layer Protocol .

The American Center for Law and Justice is an international public interest law firm specializing in constitutional law and religious liberty work. The ACLJ is headquartered in Virginia Beach, VA and its web site address is ACLJ &bull; American Center for Law & Justice.

Source ACLJ Files Federal Lawsuit Against PA School Agency after Teacher's Aide Suspended for Wearing Cross. - Free Online Library


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Note: The 3rd Circuit Court (Federal Level) eventually ruled in favor of the teacher's aid. Her suspension was overturned. But ONLY because as a t"eacher's aide" she was not considered a "teacher" according to the School Code. The School Code prohibition against religious garb, symbols, jewelry that identify a person as a member of a religion stands to this day.
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=24950

This is the actual wording from the PA School Code

The Pennsylvania School Code’s Garb Statute provides as follows:
Religious garb, insignia, etc., prohibited; penalty

(a) That no teacher in any public school shall wear in said school or while
engaged in the performance of his duty as such teacher any dress, mark, emblem or
insignia indicating the fact that such teacher is a member or adherent of any religious
order, sect or denomination.

(b) Any teacher employed in any of the public schools of this
Commonwealth, who violates the provisions of this section, shall be suspended from
employment in such school for the term of one year, and in case of a second offense
by the same teacher he shall be permanently disqualified from teaching in said
school. Any public school director who after notice of any such violation fails to
comply with the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon
conviction of the first offense, shall be sentenced to pay a fine not exceeding one
hundred dollars ($100), and on conviction of a second offense, the offending school
director shall be sentenced to pay a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars ($100)
and shall be deprived of his office as a public school director. A person thus twice
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=24950
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=24950
convicted shall not be eligible to appointment or election as a director of any public
school in this Commonwealth within a period of five (5) years from the date of his
second conviction.

Narayanjot Ji,

Many thanks for the information. This actuallt seems to be a criminal offense...
I actually think this is more indicative of an attitude than of specific cases, whether in school or praying in the legislature.

Actually, my experience with government is that I would accept prayers to any concept of the Deity as a possible improvement.

Chardi kala!

My opinion and then I will be quiet again.

The case being brought by Sikhs is going to be a landmark case because it will test two contradictory aspects of the 1rst Amendment of the US Constitution. Freedom of students to be protected from the establishment of religion in the form of religious "messages" by a state employee who is wearing religious garb (1) versus the employees freedom to express his/her religious faith by wearing religious garb (2).

Now when you think about it...the School Code prohibition against the wearing of religious garb by teachers is ridiculous. The rational for this measure is that teachers wield immense psychological power over students by virtue of their professional role. The 1st Amendment prohibits the establishment of a state religion. Teachers as state employees therefore would, by wearing religious garb, impose their religious beliefs on their students -- who are theoretically helpless to resist the influence of garb and other indications of religion. What makes this nonsense IMHO is that there are many other influences on children that are more powerful than teachers in the US today.
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=24950
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=24950

Are there any recorded cases of school students changing their religious adherence because of the garb worn in real-time by influential people in their lives? Peers, television, particularly cable television, as well as motion pictures compete with church and family for this kind of influence. In fact celebrity culture competes with teachers, family and church. Many argue that media is form of mind control that instigates all kinds of social ills. I won't enumerate. Media, the Internet and celebrity culture are today probably more likely to influence children than schools -- sorry to say.

Yes! It is a "federal offense" as well as a violation of the state constitution.

I faintly remember having read somewhere that Rajneesh (Osho) and his followers had started exerting tremendous influence on youngsters of Oregon and possibly Pennsylvania in the late 80's and I think they were deported to India during Reagen administration.
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=24950
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=24950

Am I right with this impression? If yes, could this be the reason for such a ban?

Harbans Singh

Yes, Rajneesh really made a mess of things in Oregon back in the early to mid 1980s. He might be the impetous to this rather strange law in Oregon, a state which is usually quite tolerant of differences. He was arrested and deprted in 1985 or 1986, I think. That would have been during the Reagan Regime. I never heard about him doing mischief in Pennsylvania, though.

harbansj24

I don't remember anything about Osho in Pennsylvania. But the School Code dates back to approximately 1890 and the provisions that forbid religious garb predate Osho. They have been part of the code for around 30 years. Groups that lobby against religious expression in schools tend to be 1rst Amendment purists and not members of religious orgazniations.