By Kathleen Acuff
The Cupertino Union School District and the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) have settled their lawsuit to their mutual satisfaction in time to start the school year with a clean slate. U.S. District Judge James Ware dismissed the case last Thursday, stipulating that the claims in the case cannot be argued again.
The lengthy complaint filed by the ADF in November was whittled down to one allegation by May: that teacher Stephen J. Williams’ principal violated his freedom of religion by vetting his lesson plans for references to his religious beliefs.
Williams, a fifth-grade teacher at Stevens Creek Elementary School in Cupertino when he sued Principal Patricia Vidmar and other district officials, has been assigned to Hyde Middle School for 2005-2006. District spokesman Jeremy Nishihara and attorney Mark Davis both said Williams was in line for rotation and was not transferred because of his lawsuit.
Kevin Theriot, a senior ADF attorney in Kansas City, did not return the Town Crier’s phone call by press time, but the school district’s attorney said Theriot suggested the terms of the settlement: “Both sides walking away.”
Davis explained, “That one cause of action remaining would be really tough to prove. They would be throwing good money after bad. I think he made a reasonable decision.”
The ADF is an Arizona-based association of attorneys that describes itself as working “aggressively” to ensure the Christian Gospel informs American polity (see www.alliancedefensefund.org).
Davis said, “They just wanted something in writing that we don’t discriminate against teachers for religious beliefs and religion is not completely banned, that teachers are free to touch on matters of religion as long as it’s objective, not being done to indoctrinate students and is age appropriate and consistent.”
The school district does not need to revise policy. The principal, the district or the school board - not the teacher - will continue to decide whether questioned material is appropriate. Neither party will pay damages, and each will pay its own costs in the case. Davis estimated that the district spent more than $10,000 defending itself.
“The teacher releases any and all claims against the district,” Davis said. “We couldn’t get any better result from a trial. We are satisfied and will move on. They (Williams and the ADF) got nothing out of this.”
The ADF Web site Friday spun the settlement as a victory under the banner “Settlement: Historical American documents can be taught in Cupertino schools.” The alliance’s first press release last fall provoked a media feeding frenzy and outrage across the country with the erroneous headline “Declaration of Independence banned from classroom” over a story claiming that Cupertino students were not allowed to learn about the U.S. Constitution and the Declaration.
In fact, both documents have long been required study for California fifth-graders and were contained in the history textbook Williams’ students read. Facsimiles of the original documents were - and still are - on display in Stevens Creek school, as well.
Davis, who grew up in Los Altos and graduated from Los Altos High School, said he felt confident taking on the case after meeting Vidmar at a town hall-style school meeting.
“Parent after parent was getting up and talking about their support for her and how great she is and how mad they were. I told her that usually people have to die to hear that kind of stuff.”
