Concerning the front page article entitled “Jasper student regains right to wear cross” from your Thursday, March 9, 2000, issue. You incorrectly reported the principal of the student involved in this matter instructed the student to “hide her cross necklace.”
This is not true, and no one employed by the Walker County Board of Education that I am aware of has ever instructed any student to “hide his or her cross.” Regardless of what you wish to believe, this matter has never been a religious issue.
The Walker County Board of Education simply had a policy requiring neck jewelry to be worn inside the shirt. Female students can wear cross earrings, rings and bracelets. We have never attempted to repress any person’s religious freedom.
You did correctly report a settlement was reached, and this settlement happened because we simply could not afford the financial burden of legal representation.
Even before the time this issue was questioned by the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), we continued to allow the student to wear the necklace outside of the shirt.
The week this issue was settled, another student in our school system started wearing a pentagram necklace and was quick to inform anyone that asked that it was a sign of his religion of Satan worship. This was surely an indirect victory of Pat Robertson and the ACLJ.
Alan Trotter, Superintendent
Walker County Schools
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