Valentine Victory. (Making a Difference).Eight-year-old Morgan Nyman was in the second grade at Cushing Elementary School elementary school: see school. in Delafield, Wisconsin, last year when she sought to distribute homemade Valentine's Day cards to classmates Classmates can refer to either:
Note: The more famous or noteworthy Looney Tunes characters are listed in bold. , but balked balk v. balked, balk·ing, balks v.intr. 1. To stop short and refuse to go on: The horse balked at the jump. 2. at the little girl's religious themes. Branding them a violation of church-state separation, they refused to allow her to hand them out. School officials claimed that they were merely implementing policy set by the parent Kettle Moraine School District, so in March 2001 the Florida-based civil liberties law practice Liberty Counsel filed a federal suit against the district on Morgan's behalf, through her parents, Jeff and Shanon Stockhausen. The suit charged the district with violating her rights of free speech and free exercise of religious belief. The case did not make it to court, however. On August 28th the school board opted to settle rather than undergo costly litigation An action brought in court to enforce a particular right. The act or process of bringing a lawsuit in and of itself; a judicial contest; any dispute. When a person begins a civil lawsuit, the person enters into a process called litigation. of a case it was likely to lose. It also voted for policy changes that authorize students to distribute religious material in the same way that they pass out secular literature. And board members agreed that the district would not prohibit Morgan from distributing valentines, during future Valentine's Day exchanges, on the basis of their religious content. Terms of the settlement agreement also required the district to issue a public apology by having a statement printed in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is a daily morning broadsheet printed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. It is the primary newspaper in Milwaukee, the largest newspaper in Wisconsin and is distributed widely throughout the state. , the closing words of which assert: "To the extent the school's actions may have infringed upon Morgan's First Amendment right to free speech, the School District of Kettle Moraine apologizes." And it was agreed that the district's insurance company would pay Liberty Counsel $15,000 to cover legal fees and court costs court costs n. fees for expenses that the courts pass on to attorneys, who then pass them on to their clients or, in some kinds of cases, to the losing party. . |
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