Student reprimanded for religious absences

Tue Nov 23 15:39:01 PST 2004

True enough, but I wonder if this is something the school can 
accommodate or should have to;  imagine your hypothetical family decides 
that it must travel every weekend to attend services five hours away, 
and must arrive at least a few hours before sundown; so, starting in 
October and running through early March; the family pulls its children 
out of school every Friday at 10:00 am to get to where they are headed 
by 3:00. Add to that many days off for other holidays.  Are you 
suggesting the schools must accept all these missed days and work around 
the student; can teachers never give exams on Friday or homework on 
Thrusday that is due Friday?

Paul Finkelman

Susanna Peters wrote:
> Not knowing the facts of the situation w/r to travel distance is also 
> problematic.  For example my community here in the UP of Michigan is 5 
> hours away from a coservative or Orthodox synagogue (which also happens 
> to be in another state). To ask a family in such a situation to start 
> observances say Sunday eve that may conclude at sunset Monday, then to 
> drive back all day Wednesday just so they can go to school on Thursday 
> and drive again back again all day Friday for evening services on that 
> day (esp during certain times of year) seems a bit harsh not to say 
> costly and expensive. Most families here could not and cannot afford to 
> make such arrangements. My hope would be that the facts, e.g. where you 
> live and how easily you can travel (e.g. car, bus, someone elses car 
> etc)  should make some difference.  I guess the question is what the 
> test would be to see if these incidents to the religous observances need 
> to be accomodated.    Should some people get more accomodation than 
> others?  How would the courts decide? Ideally the school should be 
> flexible, but maybe they have some reason not to be?
> 
>> If the school has a strict attendance policy and the student needs to 
>> take four days off for religious holiday (use my earlier example of 
>> the observant Jew and Passover) it might be constitutionally required 
>> that the studnet can get the fourdays off without penalty; but surely 
>> there is no requirement that the student also get off the four days in 
>> between those four days, plus a travel day.  Indeed, even if the 
>> religious observance *required* that the observance take place in a 
>> particular place, and could not take place elsewhere, I don't see how 
>> there could ba constitutional requirement that the travel days or days 
>> in between obervance, be exempt from the attendance requirement.  So, 
>> maybe you are right, that required or elective travel should not be 
>> exempt.
>>
>> Steven Jamar wrote:
>>
>>> I am unaware that the United Church of God requires out-of-state  
>>> attendance.  Does that matter?  Does it matter whether it is a  
>>> requirement as opposed to an elective thing?  It seems to me that 
>>> the  state has a compelling state interest in educating its citizens 
>>> and  that that is what we look at, not at some compelling interest to 
>>> change  the rules on attendance for an elective activity.
>>>
>>> Steve
>>>
>>> On Tuesday, November 23, 2004, at 02:19  PM, Mark Stern wrote:
>>>
>>>> If school officials have discretion which absences to excuse and which
>>>> not(as it appears from the story that they do),then the federal free
>>>> exercise clause would seem to require excusal absent compelling
>>>> interest.
>>>> Marc Stern
>>>>
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: religionlaw-bounces at lists.ucla.edu
>>>> [mailto:religionlaw-bounces at lists.ucla.edu] On Behalf Of Volokh, Eugene
>>>> Sent: Tuesday, November 23, 2004 12:20 PM
>>>> To: religionlaw at lists.ucla.edu
>>>> Subject: FW: Student reprimanded for religious absences
>>>>
>>>>     Any thoughts on this issue?  The Indiana Free Exercise Clause
>>>> has been interpreted to require strict scrutiny, City Chapel  
>>>> Evangelical
>>>> Free Inc. v. City of South Bend, 744 N.E.2d 443 (Ind. 2001), though I
>>>> know of no cases that have dealt with the government's role as K-12
>>>> educator.
>>>>
>>>>     Eugene
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> http://www.thetimesonline.com/articles/2004/11/21/news/lake_county/ 
>>>> 2e51b
>>>> ae417129d4486256f52007f530f.txt
>>>>
>>>> The parent of a sixth-grade Lowell Middle School student says the
>>>> Tri-Creek School Corp. has threatened to expel her child for religious
>>>> beliefs.
>>>>
>>>> Ruth Scheidt said middle school officials forced her 12-year-old son to
>>>> sign a letter last month stating he understood if he missed another day
>>>> of school for any reason before the end of the semester in January, he
>>>> could be expelled. The family had just returned from an out-of-state,
>>>> eight-day religious observance called the Feast of Tabernacles,
>>>> celebrated by the United Church of God. . . .
>>>>
>>>> Under Indiana law there is no ruling as to whether children are to be
>>>> excused for religious purposes, Neal said. The Indiana Department of
>>>> Education holds firmly that it is not a reason to excuse students under
>>>> Indiana law. . . .
>>>>
>>>> Students are allowed five days of excused absences per semester, Neal
>>>> said.
>>>>
>>>> Excused absences include illness with a doctor's note, a death in the
>>>> immediate family, quarantine or court appearance.
>>>>
>>>> "Occasionally there may be an emergency in a family," Neal said. "The
>>>> principal may excuse a day to do that."
>>>>
>>>> After more than five absences, students must sign a letter  
>>>> acknowledging
>>>> they understand they could be expelled. Some states provide a list of
>>>> approved absences that are religious-based, but Indiana does not, Neal
>>>> said. . . .
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> To post, send message to Religionlaw at lists.ucla.edu
>>>> To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see  
>>>> http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw
>>>>
>>>> Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed 
>>>> as  private.  Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages 
>>>> that are  posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members 
>>>> can  (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others.
>>>>
>>>>
>>
>>
> 

-- 
Paul Finkelman
Chapman Distinguished Professor
University of Tulsa College of Law
3120 East 4th Place
Tulsa, Oklahoma  74104-2499

918-631-3706 (office)
918-631-2194 (fax)

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