Primary and secondary education

Journal of Law and Education, Jul 2002

DOCKET NO.: 01-1181

NAME: Gernetzke v. Kenosha Unified School District No. 1

DATE: Apr. 22, 2002

Students at a public high school sued school district and administrators for violating their constitutional and statutory rights to religious freedom. The school principal invited student organizations to submit proposals for murals to be painted on the school walls. The students of a Bible Club submitted a sketch that included a large cross. The principal approved the sketch minus the cross fearing that inclusion of the cross would open the school to lawsuits. The principal also banned proposed sketches from other student groups that included such symbols as swastikas and satanic symbols. Held: Court ofAppeals found that the school district did not violate the students' rights. The Court held that the principal's decision to ban the cross was based on the same basis he used to ban other secular symbols; thus students were not discriminated against based on their religion. Gernetzke v. Kenosha Unified School District No. 1, 274 RM 464 (7th Cir. 2001), cert. denied, 122 S.Ct. 1606 (2002).