by Allie Martin
(AgapePress) – A high school principal in Iowa has told a substitute teacher that he can no longer be employed at the school because he wished a colleague a happy Easter and mentioned the resurrection of Christ.
The comment was made to the homeroom teacher when students were not present in the classroom. The substitute teacher was informed shortly after the conversation took place that he would no longer be employed in the Davenport Community School District.
Brad Dacus of the Pacific Justice Institute says the school district is practicing religious discrimination against a veteran teacher. Dacus says the district has been put on notice of the civil rights violation, and has been told that such behavior will not be tolerated.
“This case is about a substitute teacher who was told that [he] would not be hired again simply because of a religious, good-faith statement [he] made about the Easter holiday as applied to Christians to a teacher [he] gave the report to,” Dacus says. “No student ever heard it, and yet because of this religious viewpoint or perspective, this substitute teacher was not allowed to continue to substitute.”
Dacus says he made it very clear to the district that its action is discriminatory. “[N]o employee — particularly working for the government — can be in any way terminated or punished simply because of a private religious message that is expressed to another worker that does not interfere in any way with the work performance on the job,” he says.
The substitute teacher has taught for the past four years with no complaints on his record. He was a full-time teacher for 39 years and served two terms on the school board.
(This update courtesy of Agape Press.)
