DALLAS (AP) 鈥� When it became clear to Texas high school theater teacher Gigi Cervantes that she couldn’t ignore a requiring the Ten Commandments to be posted in her Fort Worth classroom, she felt she had no choice. She resigned from the job she loved.
In the small city of Whitesboro, eighth grade U.S. history teacher Dustin Parsons welcomed the new poster on his classroom wall, saying the display helps him demonstrate the influence of Christianity on the country鈥檚 founding principles.
Across Texas, there are no shortage of strong opinions among teachers, parents and students as the state undertakes the nation鈥檚 largest attempt to hang the in public schools. In the rush to navigate the that took effect in September, the rollout has forced some administrators, teachers and school boards to confront hard choices.
鈥淚 just was not going to be a part of forcing or imposing religious doctrine onto my students,鈥� Cervantes said.
Federal courts more than two dozen of the state鈥檚 roughly 1,200 school districts to not hang the posters, including on Tuesday when a judge said the mandate violates First Amendment language guaranteeing religious liberty and forbidding government establishment of religion. Courts have also ruled against similar laws in and , and the issue is expected to reach the U.S. Supreme Court.
But many Texas classrooms are far along in implementing a law that has animated school board meetings, spun up guidance about what to say when students ask questions, and led to boxes of donated posters being dropped on the doorsteps of campuses statewide. Some districts didn鈥檛 wait: In suburban Dallas, school officials in Frisco spent about $1,800 to print nearly 5,000 posters, even though the law only requires schools to hang the Ten Commandments if the displays are donated. Some schools have no posters to hang.
鈥淚鈥檓 not evangelizing,鈥� Parsons said. 鈥淚鈥檓 doing it more from a history source perspective in how they were building the Constitution.鈥�
School districts face a dilemma
The law says schools must put donated posters 鈥渋n a conspicuous place鈥� and requires the writing to be a size and typeface that is visible from anywhere in a classroom to a person with 鈥渁verage vision.鈥� The displays must also be 16 inches wide and 20 inches tall (40 centimeters wide and 50 centimeters tall).
South of Austin, the Hays Consolidated Independent School District posted copies of the U.S. Constitution鈥檚 Bill of Rights 鈥� which includes the First Amendment 鈥� alongside the state-required Ten Commandments.
鈥淒istricts are in between a rock and a hard place,鈥� said Elizabeth Beeton, a member of the Galveston Independent School District鈥檚 school board.
Judges blocked the posters in some schools, including some of Texas鈥� largest, after parents brought lawsuits. In Galveston, the school board voted not to post the commandments until the law鈥檚 constitutionality is decided in the courts, but then found themselves . This week, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced lawsuits against two more districts he said were violating the law, though one, the Leander Independent School District said they are displaying donated posters.
Donors see the posters as a moral guide
Texas’ law easily passed the GOP-controlled Legislature and Republicans, including President Donald Trump, in classrooms.
In suburban Dallas, Lorne Liechty rallied his family to raise money for Ten Commandments posters to donate to the Rockwall Independent School District.
Liechty, an attorney and Rockwall County commissioner, sees the commandments as fundamental to his Christian faith, the country’s legal system and the functioning of society.
鈥淭hese are just really good guides for human behavior,鈥� Liechty said. 鈥淔or the life of me, I don鈥檛 know why people would object to any of these principles.鈥�
Adriana Bonilla would like to see the posters in her son’s kindergarten near San Antonio.
“It assists with moral foundations and it teaches respect and responsibility,鈥� Bonilla said.
Questions from teachers
Julie Leahy, director of legal services for the nonprofit Texas Classroom Teachers Association, says teachers have been asking about the consequences of refusing to display the commandments and whether they can also display posters with tenets of other religions.
She said teachers also ask for guidance on how to handle students’ questions.
鈥淕enerally speaking, the answer is going to be that the teacher should send them back to their family,鈥� Leahy said.
While the Austin high school where Rachel Preston teaches has been barred by a court order from displaying the Ten Commandments, she said she and her colleagues are anxious all the same.
鈥淲e鈥檙e worried specifically about students who don鈥檛 identify as Christian feeling unease at the very least at the presence of this in our classrooms, and struggling as well with how do we contextualize this?鈥� Preston said.
Students debate the posters
When the Ten Commandments were posted last month throughout 16-year-old Madison Creed鈥檚 high school in the small East Texas city of Carthage, she said it briefly became the 鈥渂uzz of the school鈥� as students debated whether the religious doctrine belonged there.
鈥淓verybody had their opinion about it,鈥� Creed said. 鈥淚 know talking to a lot of my peers and my classmates that a lot of us don鈥檛 agree with it but there is the other portion of the school that does.鈥�
Word also came that the high school band director had resigned over the law. Johnnie Cotton wrote on Facebook that he believed 鈥渧ery strongly that politics and religion have no place in the public schools.鈥�
Creed, who plays in the band, said she understood and agreed with Cotton’s stance, and admired that he stood up for his beliefs, even though his resignation two weeks before a big competition was badly timed.
Creed鈥檚 mother, Tiffany Meadows, said the posting of the commandments didn鈥檛 bother her because she and her children are Christians, but that she was worried about students of other religions.
鈥淭hese are public schools, these aren鈥檛 Christian schools,鈥� Meadows said.
Cervantes, who said she believed complying with the law breached her students’ First Amendment rights, ended her career at the Fort Worth Academy of Fine Arts this fall by leading her students through a production of Moli猫re鈥檚 comedy 鈥淭he Imaginary Invalid.鈥� Her students presented her with a signed cast photograph and many said they respected her point of view.
鈥淚 kind of feel like we are living through a time where people who are in positions to be standing up for things are not standing up, not speaking out and there鈥檚 a climate of fear,” Cervantes said. 鈥淎nd I don鈥檛 want to be any part of that.鈥�
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