Williams v. Vidmar

Williams v. Vidmar was a lawsuit filed in federal court on November 22, 2004, It alleged that Patricia Vidmar, then Principal of Stephens Creek Elementary School in Cupertino, California, was interfering with the first amendment rights of 5th grade teacher Stephen Williams. The lawsuit also named the board members of the Cupertino Union School District.

In the weeks leading on to the lawsuit parents of students at the school had been complaining to Vidmar about Williams, who described himself as an "Orthodox Christian", handing out religiously themed pamphlets in his classes. Vidmar, herself a Christian Republican, began screening Williams handouts.

The lawsuit was handled for Stephen Williams by the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), an Arizona-based legal group whose mission was to defend "the right to hear and speak the Truth through strategy, training, funding and litigation" in response to "challenges to people of faith to live and proclaim the Gospel." In 2003, the ADF received $16,474,818 from donors, more than covering their $2,003,654 in General & Administrative expenses. Since 2001, the ADF has been targeting public schools with lawsuits. As Mike Johnson of the ADF told the Baptist Press News (12/20/04), "The school ground is the battleground now in the culture war when it comes to religious expression. Teachers are in the crosshairs." [1]

The ADF issued a press release entitled "Declaration of Independence Banned from Classroom", a title that caused considerable controversy, and some outrage, among listeners to various news outlets. This press release was especially publicized by various Fox News Network shows,[2] and resulted in over a thousand hostile messages being sent to the school, some containing threats. The effects on the community were chronicled by an article in The New Yorker [3]

On April 28, 2005 Judge James Ware dismissed all but one of the charges in the lawsuit [4]

On Aug. 11, 2005, the lawsuit was settled. Under the settlement, filed in federal court in San Jose, no money will exchange hands and no school policies will be altered. The parties agreed not to file future claims based on the complaint.

Stephen Williams resigned from the school at the end of the 04-05 school year.[5]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.aasa.org/SchoolAdministratorArticle.aspx?id=7720
  2. ↑ http://mediamatters.org/research/2004/12/08/fox-peddles-false-report-that-california-school/132417
  3. ↑ Peter J. Boyer, "Jesus in the classroom: parents loved Cupertino's schools, then a teacher said he was being discriminated against as a Christian", The New Yorker, March 21, 2005, p. 62.
  4. ↑ http://www.leagle.com/decision/20051632367FSupp2d1265_11512
  5. ↑ Herel, Suzanne (17 August 2005). "Teacher resigns after settling dispute over religious material". SF Gate. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
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