CHINO HILLS >> The Chino Valley Unified school board is gearing up for a fight.



Weeks after a federal judge told board members — long known for their pattern of not just opening board meetings with an invocation prayer, but also for discussing religion and reading from the Bible throughout meetings — to stop the behavior, the board met Monday to choose the law firm that will represent it in its appeal.



A crowd of hundreds of spectators spilled out of the board’s meeting room, into the lobby beyond onto the sidewalk outside, many of them holding up white cards with a one word message emblazoned on them: “Pray!”



Chino Valley Unified’s district headquarters is located 1.5 miles from mega-church Calvary Chapel. At least two board members, James Na and board president Andrew Cruz, worship there.



One woman in the lobby joked about needing something from Starbucks after the meeting.



“Your reward is in Heaven,” her friend replied.



The school board has opened its meeting with religious invocations since November 2013, although board members’ religious pronouncements reportedly go back further than that, according to district employees.



Not everyone who showed up Monday night was in favor of the board’s plan to appeal.



“It’s not about ideology, it’s about being responsible,” student Ronaldo Lizárraga told the board.



Sandra Rose, the president of the Monte Vista Water District, noted that she was Jewish and asked board members how they would feel if she gave readings from the Torah during meetings.



“She’s not Christian,” a woman in the hallway outside said. “Of course she’s against it.”



But most of those speaking Monday were there to cheer the board on.



“Continue doing what you’re doing,” Gail Blake-Smith told the board. “God is on your side.”



In November 2014, the district was sued by the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation, along with anonymous district staff, students and community members. Chino Valley Unified was defended by attorneys from the Sacramento-based Pacific Justice Institute, a nonprofit conservative legal defense organization that specializes in religious freedom. The district now owes the Freedom from Religion Foundation $197,405 in legal fees, more than the salary for four beginning teachers.



On Feb. 18, U.S. District Judge Jesus Bernal told the board to end its years-long tradition of “reciting prayers, Bible readings and proselytizing at board meetings.” But Bernal isn’t getting the final word: Last week, the board voted 3-2 to appeal Bernal’s decision.



In 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in Town of Greece v. Galloway that local officials may open public meetings with prayers — even explicitly Christian ones — so long as the government agency does not discriminate against minority faiths when choosing who may offer a prayer and the prayer does not coerce participation from nonbelievers.



“In the town of Greece, (New York), the prayer is delivered during the ceremonial portion of the town’s meeting,” Kennedy’s opinion reads in part. “Board members are not engaged in policy-making at this time.”



Lawyers for the Freedom From Religion Foundation argued that former board president James Na “often injects religion into his comments” at the ends of meetings, and that current board President Andrew Cruz regularly closed meetings with a Bible reading, in addition to the prayers used to open meetings.



In one case, Na reportedly mentioned or discussed Jesus 10 times in one board meeting. The Freedom From Religion Foundation argument also noted that students are not just encouraged to attend — the school board includes a student member — but are often required to, including students whose discipline cases the board is discussing during the closed-door portions of the meetings.



“I want to say I appreciate each of you being here and standing up for righteousness,” Na told the crowd.



The board then voted 3-2 Monday night to hire Murrieta-based law firm Tyler & Bursch to handle their appeal, with board members Pamela Feix and Irene Hernandez-Blair dissenting.



In the lobby and on the sidewalk outside of board chambers, the crowd whooped and cheered their approval.



Staff writer David Allen contributed to this story.

