Arkansas
FFRF has ensured that young children will be free from future religious art assignments in the Gosnell School District, Ark.
A district parent informed FFRF that an art teacher who teaches kindergarten through sixth grade at Gosnell Elementary School had students paint the crucifixion scene for Easter. The school’s art show from May 24 proves this claim, showing some of the crucifixion paintings. This is reportedly also not the first year that the assignment has been given to students.
“If the district turns a blind eye to overt proselytization in its classroom, it becomes complicit in an egregious constitutional violation and breach of trust,” FFRF Patrick O’Reiley Legal Fellow Hirsh M. Joshi wrote to the district.
FFRF received a letter from the District Legal Counsel Phillip M. Brick, Jr., who wrote that, “to avoid any ongoing issues, the district art teacher will not assign a project that includes drawing a crucifix in the future.”
