Originally appeared at http://www.freedomforum.org/news/2000/03/2000-03-23-04.asp

Parents ask court to stop charter school from teaching creationism

By The Associated Press

03.23.2000

• LANSING, Mich. — Comparing the theory of creationism to evolution in a charter school science class violates the separation of church and state, an attorney told a federal judge earlier this week.

  Teaching the theory that God created the universe in a matter of days and out of nothing in a science classroom indicated that creationism was being taught as a scientific principle at Vanguard Charter Academy, said Kary Love, an attorney for five parents who sued the Wyoming, Mich., school.

  "The theories should be compared in a history class. I don't think that's a problem," Love said.

  U.S. District Judge David W. McKeague was expected to make to a summary judgment in the case March 20, but instead heard arguments and questioned attorneys. A hearing for the summary judgment has not been scheduled.

  "These are very isolated, stray remarks compared to the whole curriculum," McKeague said regarding the comparison of the theories in class.

  The parents also sued National Heritage Academies, which manages Vanguard, in December 1998 for allegedly illegally exposing their children to religion at school.

  Charter schools receive taxpayer funds but operate outside the usual public school system and do not have publicly elected school boards.

  Because 90% of Vanguard's funding is public, the parents contend the school's actions violate the constitutional prohibition against promoting religion in public institutions.

  Attorneys for National Heritage and Vanguard argued the claims against them should be dropped because the parents never observed any of the alleged incidents.

  Bill Mills, an attorney for Vanguard, said there is no evidence that the alleged incidents in which religion was brought into school hurt the children. There is also no proof that religious remarks were made by Vanguard employees, he said.

  "I believe in my whole heart that this is not a case that belongs in court," Mills said after the hearing.

  The parents' lawsuit contends Vanguard violated the constitutional separation of church and state by allowing the use of school facilities for school prayer during and after school hours; allowing and/or endorsing the distribution of religious brochures, pamphlets and other information; and holding an in-service for teachers with a religious focus.

  But Terry Mroz, an attorney for National Heritage, argued that any information in pamphlets received by school employees was never implemented into the curriculum.

  "They were brochures about what can and can't be taught in public schools about Christmas, Thanksgiving and Easter," Mroz said. "But those pamphlets went nowhere — they never incorporated a thing from those pamphlets."

  Material taught at an in-service for teachers also never made it into the classroom, Mroz said.

  The parents have requested that teachers' in-service be prohibited from including any religious references. Teachers should not be allowed to use Bible readings and prayers to teach certain concepts, such as justice, the lawsuit contends.

  They have also asked that a mothers' prayer group be held off school grounds because students can hear the prayers being said in a room off the school's gymnasium, Love said.

  Jeff Seaver, who is one of the parents who filed the lawsuit, said Vanguard had repeatedly endorsed prayer groups.

  "It's certainly been a long process," Seaver said after the hearing. "But our position is based on principle — and we're ready to battle for that principle."