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ACLU Letter to Miami-Dade School Board Urging Reconsideration of
Proposed Bible Curriculum
June 20, 2002
Ms. Perla Taberas Hantman
President
Miami-Dade School Board
1450 NE 2 nd Avenue
Miami, Florida 33132
Dear President Hantman,
We understand that at last evening's meeting of Miami-Dade School, the Board approved a proposal from Board Member Dr. Marta Perez to commission a "feasibility study" to introduce The Bible as History and Literature, an elective course.
We were disappointed that we did not receive advance notice that this matter would appear on your agenda. Had we been notified, we would have arranged to share our views and concerns. As it appears from the purported rationale for the course, the proposed curriculum was the subject of litigation involving the Lee County (Ft. Myers) School Board, and the subject of a decision by the federal court in Tampa ( Gibson v. Lee County School Board, 1 F. Supp. 2d 1426).
Unfortunately, we do not see a reference to that case in the resolution proposing the feasibility study. Consequently, we have enclosed a copy of the federal district court's opinion. Our organization was co-counsel in the lawsuit against the Lee County School Board.
It would be a shame to waste valuable school resources on this matter, if the curriculum being advanced is the very one ? as we suspect it is ? that the federal court decided was sufficiently sectarian as to be unconstitutional if taught in a public school.
The Lee County case addressed the School Board's unconstitutional decision to teach the Bible as history, using the Bible itself as a history textbook. Of course, the teaching of religious doctrine in the public schools is to be distinguished from teaching factually about religion in a neutral and objective fashion, which is a useful part of a school curriculum and would not present a constitutional problem.
The curriculum that appears to have been presumed in the proposal before you last evening, a curriculum advanced by the National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools and unsuccessfully defended in federal court by the American Center for Law and Justice, was found by the court to advance a particular religious view, one that may conflict with the beliefs of the student or his or her family.
Nevertheless, now that the Board has authorized a feasibility study, we are requesting that we be notified whenever this matter appears on your agenda. We also understand that mention was made of designating a representative of the American Civil Liberties Union to be part of the feasibility study. If this is what the Board has passed, we would very much appreciate the opportunity to designate a representative to participate in the study.
Thank you, and we look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
Howard L. Simon
Executive Director
ACLU of Florida.
Lida Rodriguez-Taseff
President
ACLU Greater Miami Chapter
CC: Dr. Marta Perez
Superintendent Merrett Stierheim
MEDIA CONTACT:
Alessandra Soler Meetze, Communications Director, 305-576-2337 ext.
16 or 786-208-7203.
