SAD 1 chief ‘dismayed’ by suit

BANGOR – Educators who are fundamentalist Christians are not imposing their religion on middle school history students in a northern Maine school district, according to the district’s superintendent.

Gehrig T. Johnson, superintendent of SAD 1, said in a statement released Thursday that he is “dismayed” by a federal lawsuit filed recently by Skyway Middle School teacher Gary Cole that pertains to the district’s policies on what is taught in history classes.

In the suit, Cole alleges that fundamentalist Christians who helped write the curriculum want only their religion, and not others, taught in classes about influences on the creation of early civilizations.

SAD 1 comprises Mapleton, Presque Isle, Castle Hill, Chapman, Westfield and other towns. Skyway Middle School is located in Presque Isle.

“In his suit, Mr. Cole has alleged that a ‘small group of fundamentalist Christian individuals’ has created a seventh grade social studies curriculum that never mentions religions other than Christianity,” Johnson wrote in a faxed statement.

“He has also alleged that he has been required to teach only about Christian cultures, and not permitted to teach about non-Christian cultures. The allegations are false.”

Johnson said he takes exception to Cole’s alleged claims that some educators are promoting their fundamentalist Christian religious views in their classrooms.

“I am disappointed that a district educator cannot actively participate in a religious community of her choice, in her private life, without being accused of seeking to impose her religious beliefs on the public schools,” Johnson wrote. “Our staff members have a variety of religious faiths, and they have every right as citizens to choose their beliefs and to make them known, but they fully understand that they may not impose those beliefs on students in the school setting.”

However, Cole’s attorney, A.J. Grief of Bangor, said Thursday that Christian views dominate the history classes, and that he “wishes they had” kept their religious beliefs out of the school.

“But every time my client has tried to teach any aspect of world history other than Christian Western Europe, he’s been warned,” Grief said.

Cole’s lawsuit, filed in late November in U.S. District Court in Bangor, alleges that SAD 1 violated his First Amendment right of free expression – and the rights of his students – by forcing him to teach only about Christian civilization. He has received written warnings “directing him to cease and desist at the peril of losing his job,” the lawsuit stated.

Cole seeks a jury trial and a ruling that will allow him to teach the history of the entire Eastern Hemisphere and all religious influences on it.

In his response to the lawsuit, Johnson said he believes Cole’s claim “unfairly maligns the professionalism of our professional educators – Pamela Hallett, curriculum director who oversees curriculum development in the district, and the many teachers who have helped to write the district’s social studies curriculum.”

He added, “decisions about course content were in no way influenced by the religious views of the curriculum authors.”

Johnson said in his statement that Cole’s claim that only Christian-influenced cultures are taught in the social studies classes are untrue. He said that other cultures, such as ancient India, China, Africa, Egypt, Japan and Southeast Asia, are taught in a ninth-grade world history class.

“The seventh-grade curriculum focuses on Europe, where Christianity has been dominant but hardly the exclusive religion, but the ninth-grade curriculum, and others, includes extensive study of cultures where other religious faiths have been and continue to dominate,” Johnson said.

The ninth-grade world history class is not a required class, Grief countered. Plus, he said, the statewide educational assessment test that is given to all eighth-graders requires that students be familiar with the history of both the Eastern and Western hemispheres, but Cole’s students are only given books titled “Eastern Hemisphere.”

“The ninth-grade history class is an elective,” Grief said. “A graduate of MSAD 1 might be asked to die in Iraq and never know anything about that region.”

In his statement, Johnson referred any questions to his attorney, Bruce W. Smith of Portland. Smith did not return a telephone call for comment Thursday afternoon.

Johnson is critical of how he heard about the lawsuit, mentioning that he was told it was filed when notified by a Bangor Daily News reporter, according to his statement.

“The complaint still has not been served on the district, and I had no idea a lawsuit was forthcoming until the press called me,” Johnson wrote. “The district’s legal counsel has since obtained a copy of the complaint from the court.”

Grief said SAD 1 administrators knew the lawsuit eventually would be filed since Cole began complaining to the district about the curriculum a few years ago. He said Cole approached the Maine Human Rights Commission a couple of years ago for a “right to sue” letter, and it was granted.

Cole’s complaint, however, was never investigated by the commission, and, according to state law, a “right to sue” letter is issued after 18 months.

“The dispute is hardly new,” Grief said.