Courts - Connecticut Official defends church school graduations ACLU says holding ceremonies in The First Cathedral is illegal

By John Christoffersen Associated Press Writer BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (AP) -- School officials decided to hold two high school graduations at a megachurch because the building had enough space at the right cost, an education official told a federal judge during a hearing this week on whether the arrangement was an unconstitutional government endorsement of religion. But attorneys suing him tried to show the decision stemmed from intense lobbying by a religious organization. Two students represented by the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for Separation of Church and State are suing Enfield schools, saying it's illegal to hold the ceremonies at The First Cathedral in Bloomfield. Enfield Board of Education Chairman Gregory Stokes, a church pastor, testified in Bridgeport federal court that the church was chosen because of its cost, large indoor crowd capacity, ample parking and other reasons. "It has everything that is needed for one price," he said. The graduations of Enfield and Enrico Fermi high schools are scheduled for the second to last week of June. School officials initially decided in January to hold outdoor ceremonies at the high schools, but Stokes said parents were concerned about bad weather and limited seating if the graduations had to be moved inside the schools. Attorneys for the students who are suing say the board changed its mind after intense lobbying by the Family Institute of Connecticut, a socially conservative religious organization. They introduced e-mail and Facebook exchanges in which they said the group's leader, Peter Wolfgang, said Stokes promised to produce the votes to hold the graduations at First Cathedral if an attorney for another organization would represent the school board for free. Stokes said that was a mischaracterization; he said he would bring up the issue with the board. Attorneys for the students also pressed Stokes about another e-mail that they said appeared to show he was working with Wolfgang to get the votes of two more board members for holding the graduation at the church. They also challenged him about an e-mail in which he said his caucus on the board has done a good job of keeping its decision private. Stokes said his caucus had decided to consider the church again, but he didn't want people lobbying the board. He said Wolfgang was lobbying the board for his own reasons that were different from his reasons. But attorneys for the students said the exchanges showed close cooperation between the pair. Published: Fri, May 28, 2010

––––––––––––––––––––
 Subscribe to the Legal News!
 https://test.legalnews.com/Home/Subscription
Full access to public notices, articles, columns, archives, statistics, calendar and more
Day Pass Only $4.95!
One-County $80/year
Three-County & Full Pass also available