SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- A federal judge's decision to dismiss a freedom-of-speech lawsuit over a kindergartner's picture of Jesus in a school assignment about the environment is "not only unconstitutional, it's unconscionable," the family's attorney said Friday.
It is the second time U.S. District Court Judge Norman Mordue has thrown out the 1999 lawsuit brought by student Antonio Peck and his family against the Baldwinsville Central School District. . . .
The Peck family accused the Baldwinsville Central School District and the Catherine McNamara Elementary School of violating Antonio's constitutional rights by censoring a poster he made because it contained a religious drawing. . . .The incident occurred in June 1998, when Antonio and his classmates were given an assignment to create a poster about the environment.
Antonio submitted a crayon drawing of children picking up garbage and putting it in trash cans, a man and a woman dropping trash into a recycling bin and a picture of a globe with cutout children holding hands circling it. Off to one side was a man in a flowing robe kneeling down with both hands outstretched to the clouds above. . . .
School officials displayed the poster, but it was folded in half so that the picture of the robed man was not visible. Teacher Susan Weichert and Principal Robert Creme objected to the poster because they said it promoted one religion over another and could offend others.
Details here from the AP via Newsday.com.