Florida School Cafeteria Worker Rebukes 5-Year-Old Student: Saying Grace Over Lunch "Is Not Good!"

OVIEDO, Fla., April 1, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, Liberty Institute attorneys sent a demand letter, on behalf of clients Marcos Perez and his daughter, to school administrators at Carillon Elementary School in Oviedo, Florida, requesting that school officials cease engaging in religious discrimination in violation of federal and state law. Last week, a school lunchroom supervisor told Marcos Perez's 5-year-old daughter that it was wrong to bow her head in prayer before she ate her lunch.  Follow this link to view an online copy of the demand letter: http://www.libertyinstitute.org/document.doc?id=139

Press Availability: Liberty Institute Senior Counsel Jeremy Dys invites all working media to attend a press availability with Mr. Perez, Tuesday, April 1, at 3:30 PM ET on the sidewalk by the sign outside of Carillon Elementary School, 3200 Lockwood Blvd., Oviedo, FL.  

"Of course, students can pray at school!" said Dys.  "As the Supreme Court held over half a century ago: Students do not 'shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.'  The school is in violation of Department of Education guidelines that specifically protect this type of prayer, and thus could jeopardize its federal funding." 

The Perez Family cited this offense to their daughter's religious liberty as the most immediate reason to remove their daughter from the public education system. "Mainly because of this incident, we have exercised our option as parents to teach our daughter at home," said Marcos Perez.  "We live in a very good school district, but we cannot, in good conscience, send our daughter to a school where her religious liberty has been compromised."

Liberty Institute continues to investigate this situation on behalf of its clients and other students, who experience unnecessary censoring of their religious liberty while at school.  Last Fall, Liberty Institute represented 10-year-old Erin Shead, whose teacher informed her that she could not write an essay about Jesus as her hero.  That situation lead to the Tennessee General Assembly passing a bill with overwhelming bipartisan support to expand student religious liberty.  Similarly, Liberty Institute is still investigating claims by a mother in South Carolina, who was told that her 8-year-old daughter could not complete a similar school assignment for fear of violating the so-called, "separation of church and state."

About Liberty Institute
Liberty Institute is a national nonprofit legal group dedicated to defending and restoring religious liberty across America — in our schools, for our churches, inside our military and throughout the public arena. Liberty's vision is to reestablish religious liberty in accordance with the principles of our Founding Fathers. For information, visit www.LibertyInstitute.org.

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SOURCE Liberty Institute