J.A. v. Nazareth Area School District
Description: Nazareth Area School District unconstitutionally prohibited a 1st-grade student from distributing St. Valentine’s Day cards to his classmates because the cards contained a note that mentioned God and included the Bible verse John 3:16 after a sentence about the history of St. Valentine’s Day.
Pa. school district revises speech policy in student lawsuit over Valentine's Day card
Attorney sound bite: Matt Sharp
“Public schools ought to encourage, not suppress, the free exchange of ideas. That includes respecting a student’s freedom to include a Bible verse and a reference to God in a Valentine’s Day card,” said ADF Legal Counsel Matt Sharp. “We commend Nazareth Area School District for revising its speech policy so that it respects student religious expression.”
“Students do not abandon their constitutionally protected freedoms when they enter the schoolhouse gate,” added ADF Senior Legal Counsel Jeremy Tedesco. “This settlement ensures that this student and other students throughout the district will be free to engage in the expression of their ideas without censorship by school officials.”
In February, Floyd R. Shafer Elementary School prohibited a student from distributing St. Valentine’s Day cards to his classmates because the cards contained a note that mentioned God and included the Bible verse John 3:16 after a sentence about the history of St. Valentine’s Day. Floyd R. Shafer Elementary School Principal William Mudlock ordered the cards removed because of their religious nature and because they contained a Bible verse, telling the student’s parents that they could be “offensive” to others.The lawsuit, J.A. v. Nazareth Area School District, filedwith the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, explained that the same federal court struck down an identically worded policy at another Pennsylvania school district in 2008. That court wrote that such policies “restrict what effectively amounts to all religious speech, which is clearly not permissible under the First Amendment.”
Ted Hoppe, one of nearly 2,500 private attorneys allied with ADF, served as local counsel in the case on behalf of the student.
- Pronunciation guide: Hoppe (HOPP’-ee)
Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization that advocates for the right of people to freely live out their faith.
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ABOUT Matt Sharp
Matt Sharp serves as senior counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom, where he is the director of the Center for Public Policy. In this role, he leads ADF's team of policy experts as they craft legislation and advise government officials on policies that promote free speech, religious freedom, parental rights, and the sanctity of human life. Since joining ADF in 2010, Sharp has authored federal and state legislation, regularly provides testimony and legal analysis on how proposed legislation will impact constitutional freedoms, and advises governors, legislators, and state and national policy organizations on the importance of laws and policies that protect First Amendment rights. He has twice testified before the U.S. Congress on the importance of protecting free speech and religious liberty in federal law. Sharp also authored an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of nearly 9,000 students, parents, and community members asking the court to uphold students’ right to privacy against government intrusion. Sharp earned his J.D. in 2006 from the Vanderbilt University School of Law. A member of the bar in Georgia and Tennessee, he is also admitted to practice in several federal courts.