By Kathleen Acuff

The civil rights lawsuit filed by a Stevens Creek Elementary School teacher against Cupertino Union School District officials in November is moving ahead on one claim after U.S. District Judge James Ware denied three of its four claims last week.

The remaining allegation by fifth-grade teacher Stephen J. Williams that his principal, Patricia Vidmar, treated him differently from his colleagues because of his religious beliefs - Williams describes himself as “an orthodox Christian” - now moves from notice-pleading to the discovery phase, in which the facts of the case will be presented.

The attorneys of the Alliance Defense Fund, an Arizona-based association funded by national evangelical Christian organizations, must amend the teacher’s complaint to contain only the allowed claim and file it by May 13. The school district must file a response within 15 days of that.

After the discovery stage, the district plans to file a motion to dismiss the remaining claim; the motion has an unconfirmed October court date. Williams’ original complaint was filed a few days before Thanksgiving.

The district sought dismissal of all four claims in a March 30 hearing. The allegation surviving the April 28 order is that Vidmar violated the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution in her supervision of Williams. The judge dismissed “with prejudice” - the claims can never be filed again - the allegations that the principal violated the Establishment Clause and the teacher’s constitutional rights of freedom of speech and due process.

“In the view of the court, there is a well-defined difference between being an elementary school teacher who is an avowed Christian, which Williams is free to be, and expressing the Christian faith in the classroom,” Ware wrote.

Ware’s order observed that this case is the first of its kind “in many respects,” which means there are few, if any, precedents to guide him.

“The issue is whether a public elementary school teacher may sue the principal and school district claiming violations of the teacher’s constitutional rights arising from restrictions placed on the teacher’s use of supplemental classroom materials having religious content. The court finds that there is no legal basis for the lawsuit and dismisses all but one of the claims. In the surviving claim, the teacher alleges that all other teachers are allowed to use similar supplemental materials while he is being restricted from using them because he is an avowed Christian. If he can prove that claim, it would be a violation of the Equal Protection Clause,” Ware wrote.

Judges in other cases have ruled that the 11th Amendment protects “state officials acting in their official capacities” from being sued for damages. The district had moved for dismissal of the entire complaint on those grounds. Ware ruled those grounds insufficient for dismissal because Williams is not seeking damages but “only a declaratory judgement or injunctive relief.”

The teacher is asking that the district recompense him for his attorneys’ fees, but the courts consider attorneys’ fees costs rather than damages.

Ware ruled that Vidmar is not protected from federal suit by California statutory code.