NLV charter school apologizes for censoring Bible verse in homework
Somerset Academy apologized Friday to a 12-year-old student who had been denied the use of a Bible verse in a school project in February, according to the Liberty Institute, which represents her family.
Sixth-grader Mackenzie Fraiser had originally been told by a teacher at the North Las Vegas public charter school that she couldn’t use the John 3:16 verse in a PowerPoint presentation titled “All About Me,” which had to include an “inspirational saying,” Liberty Institute said.
When Mackenzie’s father, a pastor, found out about the incident in late April, he contacted the school and received a letter from Assistant Principal Jenyan Martinez telling him that when Mackenzie submitted the project, “the matter became one of having a captive audience that would be subject to her religious beliefs.”
Mackenzie on Friday was being allowed to resubmit the project with the verse included, the Liberty Institute said.
Legal counsel from the Liberty Institute, a Texas-based religious rights law firm, on Wednesday sent the school a demand letter asking for an apology and gave officials 10 days to respond to avoid legal action.
The apology letter, published on Liberty Institute’s website, says the teacher and administrators acted in good faith but that they were wrong.
“After reviewing the facts of this particular situation, Somerset Academy recognizes that the teacher and assistant principal incorrectly implemented those guidelines. Expression of a student’s religious beliefs in the form of homework, artwork, and other written or oral assignments is protected speech and should have been allowed in this instance.”
Jeremy Dys, senior counsel for the Texas-based Liberty Institute, said he works cases like this all over the country, and that it was “good that the issue of religious liberty has been reinforced.”
Dys, who joined the Fraiser family in front of a federal courthouse Wednesday to tell Mackenzie’s story, told the Review-Journal that the family was “very pleased” with the decision.
Contact Ricardo Torres at rtorres@reviewjournal.com and 702-383-0381. Find him on Twitter: @rickytwrites.
