FFRF has ensured an end to a North Carolina school district’s unconstitutional advertising of weekly religious services at a local church.
Southwest Elementary School in Durham, N.C., was allowing Keystone Church to place a large sign on the school’s lawn to advertise its Sunday worship services. FFRF’s local complainant reports that the sign was up at all times, including during the school week. The school had also allowed the church to store materials visible to students in the gym, including signs advertising the church.
“Southwest Elementary School may not display messages on school grounds that recruit participants to engage in religious worship,” FFRF Senior Counsel Patrick Elliott wrote to the school district’s legal counsel. “Courts have continually held that school districts may not display religious messages or iconography in public schools.”
FFRF’s request that the school district remove all church property from school grounds during times when the church was not renting school facilities was heeded.
“The church street sign has been removed and the signs that are stored in the gym have been completely covered,” the school district’s representative replied in an email.