School officials ordered to apologize in prayer case

Signs on FM 471 south near Medina Valley High School Saturday June 4, 2011 in Castroville, Tx. (PHOTO BY EDWARD A. ORNELAS/eaornelas@express-news.net) Signs on FM 471 south near Medina Valley High School Saturday June 4, 2011 in Castroville, Tx. (PHOTO BY EDWARD A. ORNELAS/eaornelas@express-news.net) Photo: EDWARD A. ORNELAS, Edward A. Ornelas/Express-News Photo: EDWARD A. ORNELAS, Edward A. Ornelas/Express-News Image 1 of / 35 Caption Close School officials ordered to apologize in prayer case 1 / 35 Back to Gallery

As Texas students return to class from Spring Break, some officials with Medina Valley Independent School District have been given a homework assignment by a federal judge: apologize.

Chief U.S. District Judge Fred Biery issued what he called a “non-Kumbaya” order Monday to district Superintendent James Stansberry and high school band director Keith Riley after they allegedly made comments considered disparaging by the agnostic family that sued the district over school prayer.

Last month, the district reached a settlement with the plaintiffs in which it agreed that administrators and other employees will not pray with students, elicit prayer, proselytize or display religious artifacts in the classroom (except jewelry). The deal also includes a clause in which the district agreed that its employees will not disparage the plaintiffs.

The deal also says commencement programs will have a disclaimer saying statements made by students are their own and not endorsements by the district.

Shortly after the deal was announced, the order said, Stansberry gave a televised interview in which he called the lawsuit a “witch hunt” and mistakenly said the plaintiffs “wanted our teachers to stop wearing crosses.”

Riley, meanwhile, reportedly went on Facebook and posted a comment saying “don't get me started on the lies and false accusations” of former student Corwyn Schultz, whose family filed the lawsuit that led Biery to ban organized prayer at last year's commencement but allow students to invoke individual religious beliefs. A federal appeals court disagreed, and organized prayer — which is allowed under the settlement — abounded at June's graduation. Schultz declined to attend.

The order issued Monday also said Riley “liked” a comment from a recent graduate proposing that, “There should be a disclaimer after a prayer that says: ‘No atheists or anti-religious-activists were harmed in the recitation of this prayer.'”

The district tried to clarify its employees' actions and comments, and the judge chose not to hold them in contempt, which was requested by Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the Washington, D.C.-based group whose lawyers filed the lawsuit on behalf of the Schultz family.

The judge, in his order, said it appeared that the comments were made in the heat of the moment after the settlement was announced. Citing several examples of public officials whose mouths got them in trouble, the judge noted that “silence is golden.”

He didn't mention Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich, who has verbally attacked Biery on the campaign trail.

Biery, who can enforce the settlement for the next 10 years, ordered the district employees to privately sign a statement apologizing within 10 days, and he instructed the plaintiffs to sign a statement saying they accept the apologies.

“The court does not expect the parties to hold hands and sing ‘Kumbaya' around a campfire beside the Medina River,” Biery wrote. “Nor does the court expect the respondents to engage in a public spectacle of self-flaggellation for communicating words better left unsaid.

“Moreover, the court does not expect plaintiffs to become Traditional Christians, though the court suggests plaintiffs might follow the moral and civility lessons of Matthew 5:39 (‘if someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also') and a portion of ‘Essay on Criticism' (‘to err is human; to forgive, divine').”

After the order, the school district issued a statement: “We have no comment and are moving on.”

gcontreras@express-news.net

Twitter: @gmaninfedland