High schooler suspended after preaching claims religious persecution, sues Everett School District attorney: Student wouldn’t stop disrupting school, handing out leaflets

The title page of one of the religious tracts Cascade High School student Michael Leal distributed to classmates at the Everett school. Leal has been suspended three times for preaching and passing out tracts at the school, and is now suing the district. less The title page of one of the religious tracts Cascade High School student Michael Leal distributed to classmates at the Everett school. Leal has been suspended three times for preaching and passing out tracts ... more Image 1 of / 5 Caption Close High schooler suspended after preaching claims religious persecution, sues 1 / 5 Back to Gallery

An Everett high school student who claims he was wrongly suspended for loudly sharing his Christian faith has sued the school district, claiming his Constitutional rights were violated.

Michael Leal proselytized to his classmates at Cascade High School and passed out lengthy, mass-produced religious tracts, to the apparent annoyance of school administrators. Leal was suspended three times after he refused to tone down his freeform sermons and stop handing out Bible verses.

With the help of a national Christian rights organization, Leal filed a federal lawsuit Monday against the Everett School District, his school principal and others. In it, he contends he was subjected to religious discrimination during a months-long fight with school staff over his sermons and pamphleteering.

“It has been well established by court precedent that students do not leave their free speech rights at the schoolhouse door,” attorney Conrad Reynoldson said Tuesday. “Unfortunately certain officials at the school have a disagreement on this matter which is why it has become necessary to file this lawsuit.”

A school district spokeswoman said Tuesday the district was not yet in a position to respond to the lawsuit. While the district declined to discuss the teen’s allegations, a letter from a school district attorney to the teen’s lawyers outlined the school’s position.

In the Oct. 27 letter, attorney Michael Patterson contended school staff never took issue with Leal’s views. Action was taken, the attorney said, because the teen was disrupting school.

“At no time was Mr. Leal told that his distribution of material or his statements were inappropriate at school because of their religious content,” Patterson said in the letter. “Rather, he was informed of District policy … and told that he needed to comply with it. He was also informed that he could not create a substantial disruption at school or school events.”

School staff and Leal’s attorneys offer widely different views as to the size and severity of the disruptions he managed to cause. The district claims school administrators intervened after receiving student complaints, and that Leal ignored school staff when they told him to change his behavior.

His attorneys don’t describe any notable disturbances in court papers, and contend their client was ordered to stop preaching and handing out pamphlets in part because school staff thought it illegal to allow him to keep doing so. They also claim police were called needlessly when Leal preached at an after-school function.

The teen is represented in the matter by Reynoldson, a Seattle attorney, as well as two attorneys from the Pacific Justice Institute, a California-based nonprofit that often takes on religious freedom claims from Christians and other conservative causes.

Leal’s run-ins with school administrators began Sept. 3, when he was confronted while passing out booklets of Bible verses to other students during a lunch break.

According to the lawsuit, he was handing out copies of a 50-page collection of verses titled “How to Know God” during a lunch break. The tract appears to be published by a printer of inexpensive Christian booklets and texts used by those searching for converts.

His attorneys say Leal was escorted to the school principal’s office shortly afterward and told he could not hand out the tracts because they might offend or upset other students. He claims he was told he would “get in trouble” if he continued.

The district contends the initial meeting was to explain school policy to the teen so he wouldn’t face discipline. According to Patterson’s letter, he was told the restrictions were not related to the content being presented.

In either case, trouble for Leal followed in October during an evening “bonfire and car bash event” at the high school.

According to the lawsuit, Leal began preaching to other students after handing out tracts during the school-supported, extracurricular event.

He was preaching on the Ten Commandments and other topics gleaned from tracts he carried when the school principal, Cathy Woods, confronted him and told him to stop, his attorneys told the court. He stopped briefly, but began again after other students began dancing.

The district contends Leal interrupted the event for 20 minutes, using an amplifying device to present his sermon. Patterson described it as a “substantial disruption” that continued despite emphatic requests from school staff.

School administrators called police to get Leal to stop. Officers arrived and spoke with him but did not otherwise intervene.

Leal was suspended the next day. School administrators concluded his “boisterous conduct of religious material impinged on rights of other students,” according to a suspension notice issued at the time, and faulted him for failing to stop when told to by school staff. Patterson said Leal was told he could form a school club if he wanted but couldn’t disrupt school events.

Undeterred, the teen was passing out religious tracts again on Oct. 8 at a high school open house and volleyball game. His attorneys claim he only gave the pamphlets to attendees who wanted them.

Leal was stopped during the after-school event and told he needed Woods’ permission to hand out the tracts. Writing the court, Leal’s attorneys claimed Woods told him she believed she would be “breaking the law” if she allowed him to continue proselytizing at school.

“If you allow me to hand out tracts and to talk about Jesus, then you would be breaking the law?” Leal asked Woods, according to his own account.

“Woods’ response was an unqualified ‘yes,’” the teen’s attorneys said in court papers.

He was back to preaching and passing out tracts the next day, speaking with other students during his lunch break and, according to the district, during class. His attorneys claim he didn’t disrupt the school and did so only during non-instructional time; Patterson said Leal shouted “Praise the Lord” when he and other students were told to get back to work during a senior seminar.

Suspended again – that time for “distribution of religious material and failure to comply with school rules” – Leal was told he would be expelled if he continued. That prompted a Pacific Justice Institute attorney to send a letter to the district on his client’s behalf, claiming district policy makes clear students are allowed to distribute religious tracts.

Writing the court, Leal’s attorneys claim he was not disturbing or harassing other students during his “open-air preaching.”

“Leal has not now, nor has he ever, used preaching or distribution of literature, to harass, intimidate, or bully any students, school employees, or others on campus,” the attorneys said in court papers. “Instead, Leal presents general propositions to his classmates. …

“Leal does not point out or identify any individual in the gathering of students as a sinner.”

His attorneys claim Leal wasn’t given any concrete rules explaining where, when or how he could hold forth. Instead, he was instructed to run any sermons he planned to give by the school principal.

According to the lawsuit, Leal was also told he could only distribute literature he’d written himself or during a school club, and that any tract he distributed must be approved by the school administration. A behavior plan was issued in which the teen was asked to agree to those directives.

On Oct. 31, Leal was spotted handing a tract to another student during a math class. He was then suspended again for “disruptive behavior.” The religious nature of his behavior was not mentioned in that most recent suspension notice.

Through his attorneys, Leal claims school administrators violated his rights by constraining his ability to discuss and express his religion. They contend that, by preventing him from promoting his views on Christianity, the school district stopped him from practicing his faith.

Patterson defended district rules that prohibit distributing materials not written and produced by students; the teen’s tracts do not qualify. As to the preaching, the teen would only be able to do so under district policy with the principal’s permission, the attorney for the district continued. He was of course allowed to pray quietly or discuss his views privately with other students.

Everett School District has not yet responded to the lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court at Seattle. District Judge Thomas Zilly has been assigned the matter.

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Seattlepi.com reporter Levi Pulkkinen can be reached at 206-448-8348 or levipulkkinen@seattlepi.com. Follow Levi on Twitter at twitter.com/levipulk.