A teacher at a Cape Henlopen School District elementary school -- who had at least one Muslim student in her class -- read a story at Christmas several years ago that said a candy cane was shaped like the letter “J” for Jesus and that the red in the peppermint-flavored symbol of the holiday stood for the blood that Christ shed on the cross.
When the Muslim student’s mother complained, the district at first refused to apologize, according to court papers, then suspended the teacher with pay for two days but also allowed retaliation against the 8-year-old student. And it was only months later, in August 2004, after the family had moved out of the district, that officials formally reprimanded the teacher to settle an investigation by the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.
Late last week, U.S. District Judge Sue L. Robinson ruled the Muslim family presented enough evidence in their civil rights lawsuit against the district that it should be allowed to go forward to a trial and seek damages.
The lawsuit was filed by “Jane Doe” in June 2005 on behalf of her daughter, “Nancy,” charging the district and fourth-grade teacher Cindy Cunningham at Shields Elementary School were explicitly endorsing Christianity and were creating an atmosphere hostile to Muslims in violation of the U.S. Constitution’s equal protection clause.
The family was allowed to proceed anonymously under the “Doe” name because of fears of retaliation. According to the 2005 lawsuit, the family’s home already had been vandalized in September 2002 on the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
An attorney for the district, David H. Williams, noted Wednesday that several claims from the original lawsuit were withdrawn, related to two other minor children in the “Doe” family, and other claims were tossed out by Robinson in her ruling.
“We remain confident that when opportunity comes to present the facts to a jury, we will prevail on the remaining claims,” Williams said.
Williams said the incidents all took place years ago -- though Cunningham remains a teacher in the district -- and were largely addressed at the time.
Before and after the incidents in the lawsuit, William said the district took steps to make sure it is not doing anything to promote one particular religion or to single out one religion for attack in the classroom.
The Doe family’s attorney, Gary Aber, declined comment Wednesday.
In her Jan. 7 decision in the Cape Henlopen case, Robinson did not rule on the claims but said enough evidence had been presented -- in relation to the reading of explicitly Christian Christmas stories and retaliation -- that the matter should be presented to a jury.
One story highlighted by Robinson in her 17-page ruling was called “The Legend of the Candy Cane” which purported to tell the story of a candymaker who “wanted to invent a candy that was a witness to Christ.”
The story then claims the cane is in the shape of a J, to represent Jesus, the white in the candy represents Jesus’ purity and the red stripe “was added to represent the blood of Christ shed for the sins of the world.”
The story concludes by directing the reader to “remember the message of the candymaker. Jesus is the Christ!” every time he or she sees a candy cane, wrote Robinson, quoting the text of the story.
Following complaints about the story, according to Robinson, the family sought an apology but a school official told the mother Cunningham had done nothing wrong so there would be no apology and that the request was “stuck in the past” and “very negative.”
In January 2004, when the family was joined at a meeting by a representative with the American Civil Liberties Union, the district agreed to investigate the complaint and suspend Cunningham for two days with pay.
A week later, Robinson wrote, Cunningham confronted “Nancy” in her classroom and loudly asked her in front of the other children if she wanted to change classrooms. According to the lawsuit, this prompted children to taunt “Nancy” by telling her “Ms. Cunningham told you to leave -- no loser Muslims allowed.”
And while “Nancy” wanted to remain in the class “with her friends,” she was transferred to another class in February 2004 according to Robinson’s opinion. This caused Nancy’s former friends to shun and taunt her and led to panic attacks, anxiety and depression in the girl. The family moved to a different school district that summer. On Aug. 27, 2004, Robinson wrote that Cape Henlopen issued a reprimand to Cunningham “pursuant to an agreement with the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice.”
All this had followed an incident earlier in the 2003-04 school year, according to the original lawsuit, when Cunningham taught from a short textbook for children about the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Nancy and her mother interpreted the lessons as equating all Muslims with terrorists and charged that Cunningham singled the girl out as “one of them,” according to the lawsuit.
Robinson dismissed the family’s claims related to that incident, noting the textbook did not endorse or demean any religion and had a secular purpose.
Robinson quoted passages from the book where the authors state explicitly that most Muslims “believe the Koran teaches peace” while “a small group of Muslims think the Koran teaches war. These people are called Islamic extremists ... [and] make up a very small number of all Muslims.”
Williams said a teleconference has been set for later this month, where he expects a trial date will be scheduled.