Marisol Arroyo-Castro has been teaching for 30 years. Her attorneys say she was recently asked to remove a crucifix from her personal workspace in the classroom. When she was not willing to do so, she was suspended for two days without pay. Now, attorney Keisha Russell at First Liberty Institute says Arroyo-Castro is being threatened with termination.
"First Liberty along with our co-counsel WilmerHale, a very powerful law firm, wrote a demand letter to the school district explaining to them Marisol's rights under the Constitution, specifically as it relates to the Coach Kennedy case, telling them that what they're doing is unconstitutional and if they don't stop, we're going to sue them," says Russell.
First Liberty represented Coach Joe Kennedy at the U.S. Supreme Court. Ultimately, Kennedy’s right to pray on his high school football team’s field
after games was upheld.
"We prefer to give the school district the opportunity to do the right thing before we engage in litigation, which is going to cost taxpayer money," adds Russell. "That's what we're doing right now, trying to give the school district the opportunity to do the right thing before we have to go war, and I can guarantee you we're going to win it."
First Liberty hopes to have a response from New Britain School District by Monday. If it's anything short of 'Marisol can keep her crucifix exactly where it is,' Russell says they're going to court."
Far-reaching impacts
Meanwhile, Russell says this case impacts all people of faith in government.
"If they're allowed to tell her she can't have a crucifix in her personal space, what's next?" asks Russell. "She can’t have a cross necklace, someone else can't wear a hijab, someone else can't wear a yarmulke, and it just keeps going, and then you get to the point where you're not even allowed to talk about certain things or say certain things in public if you work for the government."
