Following Breitbart News’s May 5 story that Broward County Public Schools had banned students from reading the Bible and that lawyers from Liberty Institute were threatening to sue, and our May 14 update when the school changed its story but still maintained the ban, the school system has now capitulated and will allow Bibles into the classroom.
In a letter dated Sunday, May 18, first obtained by Breitbart News, the school system has completely reversed course. The letter tells Liberty Institute Litigation Director Hiram Sasser that the school “does not ban the Bible” and specifies that students may read it during the same class times when it had been previously barred. The letter also says that the school will comply with Liberty Institute’s demand that all teachers be trained in what the Constitution requires by way of upholding students’ First Amendment rights.
“Now the Broward County Public Schools says it will allow the Bible as part of the Accelerated Reader Program [ARP] and recanted what Tracy Clark, its spokesperson, said to the Miami Herald on May 6,” Jeremy Dys, senior counsel at Liberty Institute, told Breitbart News. “We are pleased they are now complying with the law and will allow students to read their Bible during free reading time and with [ARP.]”
Regarding the teacher who first sparked this controversy by ordering fifth grader Giovanni Rubio to hand over his Bible during class, Dys added, “We do not know if the teacher is in trouble with the school district, but we will continue to monitor this school system carefully to ensure that their actions toward student religious liberty match their words.”
Ken Klukowski is senior legal analyst for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @kenklukowski.