A Jesus portrait was taken down from an Ohio school district because of a federal lawsuit against the display. The portrait was hanging in the Jackson City School district since 1947.
Due to potential high litigation costs and the district's insurance company declining to cover them, the faculty adviser and two student members of the Christian service club, Hi-Y, which owns the portrait, took the portrait down by orders of the superintendent.
"At the end of the day, we just couldn't roll the dice with taxpayer money," Superintendent Phil Howard told The Associated Press. "When you get into these kinds of legal battles, you're not talking about money you can raise with bake sales and car washes. It's not fair to take those resources from our kids' education."
The school district was being sued by the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio and the Freedom from Religion Foundation after a student and two parents thought the it was unconstitutional to have the portrait promoting religion in a public school. The student and the parents remain anonymous.
The ACLU disclosed their decision during a federal court hearing on Tuesday. They're going to wait to see if the portrait stays down before taking action.
"The case is still open; there was no actual ruling (by the court)," ACLU spokesman Nick Worner told AP. He said there would be no reason to pursue the case if the portrait wasn't hanging up anymore.
The two sides have until April 11 to settle the case. The plaintiffs agreed to temporarily withdraw their motion.
Hiram Sasser, an attorney with the Liberty Institute claims that the Hi-Y Club could file a counter lawsuit for their right to show the portrait but it isn't clear if the club plans to do this.
The Jesus portair was hanging in the entranceway of the "Hall of Honor" in a middle school building. It was placed near portraits of prominent alumni and people with local roots. The portrait was recently placed in the current high school building by the Hi-Y club.
The lawsuit, which was filed in February, sparked a ntional debate over what religious-themed displays can be in public schools. The ACLU also had a lawsuit against nearby schools which displayed the Ten Commandments.
The Jackson City school board initially voted to keep the portrait up, saying that removing it would violate the student's freedom of speech and they said other clubs could put up portraits of things that represented their mission. No other club put up a portrait.
Howard believes residents will be upset over the portrait's removal, especially three days after Easter Sunday.
"Obviously, the majority of people in our community wanted it to stay up somewhere in the school district," he said. "This all happened so fast, I don't know that anybody has had time to digest it."
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
