Articles labeled: julie millin

We’re staunch supporters of separation of church and state, and will go to the mat if we thought our rights were being infringed upon. So when boneheaded teachers and school administrators at a high school in Madison, Wisconsin enacted policies that clearly demonstrate they have no idea what the Establishment Clause really means, they don’t do anyone any favors and just provide more fodder for the other side. See, geniuses, it refers to the government endorsing a particular religion, it doesn’t mean that religious beliefs of the students need to be suppressed or banned. Sheesh, we thought that should be pretty obvious to people with college educations.

According to the lawsuit [filed by the student’s parents], the student’s art teacher asked his class in February to draw landscapes. The student, a [Tomah High School] senior identified in the lawsuit by the initials A.P., added a cross and the words “John 3:16 A sign of love” in his drawing.

His teacher, Julie Millin, asked him to remove the reference to the Bible, saying students were making remarks about it. He refused, and she gave him a zero on the project.

Millin showed the student a policy for the class that prohibited any violence, blood, sexual connotations or religious beliefs in artwork. The lawsuit claims Millin told the boy he had signed away his constitutional rights when he signed the policy at the beginning of the semester.

The boy tore the policy up in front of Millin, who kicked him out of class. Later that day, assistant principal Cale Jackson told the boy his religious expression infringed on other students’ rights.