Fwd: Seminole County School Board Announces New Guidelines Which Permit High School Choir To Sing At Religious Events

[Michael MASINTER]

I am delighted to hear that the school board has come to its senses, and
look forward to hearing the choir sing at Hindi, Islamic, Roman Catholic,
and Jewish religious events as well as at secular celebrations of rodents.
Oh, wait, I forgot, it's the *gospel* choir.

Michael R. Masinter                     3305 College Avenue
Nova Southeastern University            Fort Lauderdale, Fl. 33314
Shepard Broad Law Center                (954) 262-6151
masinter at nova.edu                       Chair, ACLU of Florida Legal Panel

On Fri, 22 Nov 2002, Rick Duncan wrote:

> My good friend, Mat Staver, of Liberty Counsel, just
> sent me this press release concerning a great victory
> for religious inclusion in the Florida school system.
> Any thoughts?
>
> --Rick Duncan
>
> --- liberty at lc.org wrote:
> > Date: Fri, 22 Nov 2002 08:12:11 -0800
> > Subject: Seminole County School Board Announces New
> > Guidelines Which Permit High School Choir To  Sing
> > At Religious Events
> > To: "Richard F. Duncan" <conlawprof at yahoo.com>
> > From: <liberty at lc.org>
> >
> > Sanford, Florida – Today, Principal Coleman and
> > Choir Director Bob Maguire
> > of Seminole High School announced that the Seminole
> > County School Board
> > has issued new guidelines which will allow the
> > Seminole High School Gospel
> > Choir to sing at religious events.  Upon hearing the
> > news, members of the
> > Choir erupted in cheers.  This announcement followed
> > a controversial
> > decision by Mr. Hagerty to bar the Gospel Choir from
> > singing at a 9/11
> > memorial service conducted at the Central Baptist
> > Church in Sanford,
> > Florida. On the eve of the 9/11 event,
> > Superintendent Hagerty and School
> > District Attorney Ned Julian made the decision to
> > permanently ban the
> > Choir from singing at any event conducted at a
> > church.
> >
> >       Today’s announcement followed a packed school board
> > meeting held on
> > November 19, in which one person after another spoke
> > in favor of the
> > Gospel Choir.  Mathew D. Staver, President and
> > General Counsel of Liberty
> > Counsel, along with Karen Rochester of Liberty
> > Counsel, addressed the
> > board, as did a number of parents and clergy.  After
> > hearing the
> > testimony, a majority of the school board also
> > expressed their support for
> > the Gospel Choir.
> >
> > Seminole High School has several student singing
> > groups, one of which is
> > the Gospel Choir.  The Gospel Choir has been at the
> > high school for twelve
> > years and has received over 150 singing awards.  The
> > Gospel Choir has been
> > invited to sing at many places, including Walt
> > Disney World in Orlando,
> > Florida.  The announcement of the new guidelines
> > comes at the right time
> > to allow the Choir to sing at Disney’s Candlelight
> > Christmas event.
> >
> >       At the 9/11 memorial event which brought the
> > controversy to light, Mathew
> > Staver was the featured speaker.  Since learning of
> > the plight of the
> > Gospel Choir, Staver and the Liberty Counsel staff
> > have been working with
> > the Choir to ensure its continued future and to
> > assist in creating
> > guidelines which will allow the Choir to sing at
> > religious events.  The
> > guidelines will allow the Choir to sing at churches
> > or other religious
> > events so long as students have the ability to opt
> > out of attendance.
> > Staver noted that no student had ever sought to opt
> > out of singing at a
> > religious event, but the guidelines will provide the
> > option.
> >
> >       Staver commented, “There were certain people within
> > the administration
> > who sought to ban the Gospel Choir from singing at
> > religious events.
> > Persistence paid off in this case.  Once the matter
> > came to the board with
> > broad support from the community, the issue finally
> > resolved.  I am very
> > proud of the students who sing in the Choir and am
> > thrilled by this
> > announcement as we approach the Christmas season.”
> >
> > Mathew D. Staver, Esq.
> > Liberty Counsel
> > http://www.lc.org.
> >
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> >
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> =====
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