09-10-99 Board confirms 'Satan Suit' appeal


At a regular meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 8, members of the Bedford Central School District Board of Education voted unanimously to authorize the boards legal counsel to proceed with the appeal process in the case of Altman et al vs. Bedford Central School District.

Board members had met with lawyers earlier in the evening .in an executive session to review the case and their options.

Citing issues of academic freedom and stating that the board did not believe the district had violated students' constitutional rights, Paul Alcorn, president of the board, said the board would move ahead with its appeal. The evidence of the trial "does not support the plaintiffs' claims as well as the award amount of $107,000 that Judge Brieant made to the plaintiffs," Mr. Alcorn said.

The decision, he said, is being under taken "so that there is no misunderstanding on the part of the board or the community about our intentions at this point..."

Regarding the lawsuit, Mr. Alcorn said that the boards lawyers informed the board that the plaintiffs have appealed the 11 issues of the case that they lost.

Mr. Alcorn's statement was received without comment from the small audience in attendance.

In July, judge Charles L. Brieant issued a decision that ruled that four teaching-related activities conducted within the school district were violations of the United States Constitution, which requires separation of church and state in public institutions such as schools.

'Those activities were a reference to the Hindu god Ganesha as "Lord," and a corresponding craft activity in which students made an image of Ganesha with colored paper; the celebration of Earth Day with a ceremony the judge agreed included Native American prayer and elements of the recognized Earth worship religion called "Gaia"; the playing in school of a tape called "Listening to Nature," which Judge Brieant ruled included prayers; and students making "worry dolls."

Judge Brieant also ruled that the school district pay $106,856 to the plaintiffs' attorneys, for fees directly related to the claims the plaintiffs were awarded.

"Yes, we are appealing," school district attorney Warren Richmond said last week. "We think the judge was wrong in the four areas that he ruled against the district, and on the attorneys' fees."

The lawyers for the defendants and plaintiffs will prepare written arguments, which will be submitted late this year or early in 2000. Then both sides will present oral argument before a panel of three judges in the Second Circuit Court in New York City