CHINO >> The Chino Valley Unified school board has asked the district’s top administrator to find an attorney to defend the board without pay in a lawsuit alleging it crossed the line between church and state.
New board member Pamela Feix and board President Irene Hernandez-Blair voted against the motion Thursday night. Board members James Na, Sylvia Orozco and Andrew Cruz voted for it.
Board members declined to comment on the vote and the lawsuit, citing pending litigation. And Feix could not be reached late Friday for comment.
The lawsuit, filed in November by the Wisconsin-based Freedom from Religion Foundation, says the board should halt prayers and other religious conduct at its meetings because the conduct violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
“The meetings resemble a church service more than a school board meeting, complete with Bible readings by the Board members, Bible quotations by Board members, and other statements by Board members promoting the Christian religion,” the complaint reads.
The original lawsuit was filed Nov. 13 in U.S. District Court in Riverside and an amended complaint with a total of 23 plaintiffs, including parents, staff and students, was filed on Dec. 15.
The school board, known in the community for dipping into religiously tinged political issues, responded Jan. 9 by acknowledging that it began the open portion of its meetings with an invocation led by various community members. But in its 21-page response, the the board denied that it violated the Constitution, stating that members lacked knowledge or information on certain allegation and “therefore, denies each and every allegation contained therein.
Margaret Chidester, attorney for the district, said they didn’t have enough information to address all the allegations but will be engaging in the discovery process to learn more about what the plaintiffs meant by their allegations.
David Kaloyanides, attorney for FFRF, says a court date could be scheduled some time in February but is not certain.
“I think it’s an air-tight case,” said Annie Laurie Gaylor, president of FFRF. “Until the end of the year, we’ve had a new complaint every day. This is unprecedented. Obviously something is very wrong with this district’s understanding of separation of church and state and its role in promoting religion or not promoting it to a captive audience of small schoolchildren.”
For the third meeting in a row, people expressed their support for the board. More than 20 people held signs saying “We Support Prayer” or “We support keeping prayer in CVUSD board meetings” on Thursday night at the board’s first meeting of the year.
Both messages ended with the hashtag, “#letusprayCVUSD.”
“We just want to show our support to the school board in keeping invocations as part of their opening of their board meetings,” said Shadrach Means, high school pastor for Calvary Chapel Chino Hills.
Many of Thursday night’s protesters were students from high school Christian clubs in the district.
Jonathan Medina, 18, and president of the Christian Club at Ayala High School, said he was at the meeting to support former school board President James Na specifically.
“He really does care about our generation and he really does care about all religions,” Medina said. “I believe that if this organization takes prayer out, that’s just going to be the start of something way bigger. It’s going to start a chain reaction, and this group is going to go farther in and they’re going to want to take the Christian clubs out of schools, they’re going to try to take religion completely out of schools. And not just Christianity, but Islam, Mormonism, and other religions.”
Na and Medina both attend Calvary Chapel Chino Hills.
The invocation Thursday night was given in Sanskrit by members of the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir Chino Hills. Peter Patel, one of the members, read a verse about peace in the world and also inner peace. It was the group’s fifth time giving the invocation at a Chino Valley school board meeting, Patel said. “Over the years, they have been a great support,” he said of the board.
During the public comment portion, many people expressed their support for the Board and Na nodded along with their comments. People held up their signs and cheered loudly after each speaker.
At the end of the meeting, Cruz expressed his dismay at the leadership of the country and encouraged people to examine American leadership in light of the terrorist attacks in Paris.
“What is happening today, what the terrorists are doing, but what is really important is that you can’t look at the direction of the terrorist, you’ve got to look at the direction of our leaders because what our leaders are doing is they are eroding our rights and they’re also moving away from God,” Cruz said. “It’s so bizarre when you really think about it, that a century ago they had people who were promoting freedom, our rights, and now things have changed dramatically.”
The board will meet again Feb. 5.
