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Students and Student-Teachers asked to Remove Pentacle

2000-MAR-30: Indiana:

A second case has surfaced in Indiana. Brandi Lehman and Shauntee Chaffin are seniors at Elwood Community High School. Both are Wiccans http://www.religioustolerance.org/witchcra.htm. Brandi had worn her religious symbol, a pentacle, without incident since 1999-AUG. They participated in a student-teacher program in which they act as a teacher's aid at Edgewood Elementary School. Francie Metzger, the elementary school principal, allegedly told Brandi and another student-teacher that certain teachers at the school didn't like their pentacle jewelry; the latter believed that the pentacles are Satanic. Brandi was instructed to remove her necklace or to leave the school. She decided to leave. The Indiana Civil Liberties Union asked the court for a restraining order to allow the woman to wear her pentacle pending resolution of the court case. The order was granted. The lawsuit also claims that the principal of Elmwood Community High School prevented Brandi from further participation in the student-teaching program because she wore a pentacle. The school attorney, Thomas Wheeler, said: "The girls admitted using the copy machine for personal use, and leaving school early, they just cut out of school." Jacquelyn Bowie of the Indiana Civil Liberties Union admits that the women left school early, but stated that "The girls were forced to leave when they refused to remove...[their necklaces]." Lawyers for both sides failed to reach an agreement out of court. The judge ruled that the students can wear their pentagrams. An unidentified school official said: "Third graders have already asked, ‘Where are the witches?’ If (the teachers) answer, the ICLU will have us in court claiming we are bringing religious beliefs to the classroom." [Author's note: That comment indicates a lack of knowledge about constitutional matters. Teachers are quite free to discuss religious beliefs in public schools, as long as they treat all religions equally and do not promote religion over a secular lifestyle.] Kenneth Lehman said of his daughter: "She did the best thing she could have done, she sought out a lawyer and took it to the courts...The school taught her a lesson in one of her classes about individual rights, and she decided to take them up on what she was taught."