A Texas high school teacher must pay a former student $90,000 after he forced her to write out the Pledge of Allegiance in a class over four years ago.
Benjie Arnold agreed to the settlement on Tuesday to resolve the case before going to trial, ending a yearslong legal battle that began in 2017 after Arnold gave students at Klein Oak High School a homework assignment to write out the Pledge of Allegiance, prompting an incomplete submission from senior Mari Oliver, who for years refused to recite the pledge.
“The classroom is not a pulpit. It is a place of education, not indoctrination,” said Geoffrey Blackwell, litigation counsel at American Atheists, which represented Oliver in the case. “This settlement serves as a reminder that students do not lose their First Amendment rights when they enter the classroom.”
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Arnold told students if they didn’t submit the assignment in whole, they would receive a zero, comparing anyone who didn’t to “Soviet communists, members of the Islamic faith seeking to impose Sharia law, and those who condone pedophilia,” the lawsuit states, according to the Washington Post.
Oliver had for months declined to participate in the pledge due to its inclusion of the phrase “under God” and her belief that the United States does not guarantee “liberty and justice for all,” with her lawsuit arguing Arnold singled her out as an act of retaliation. She also faced harassment from her peers after the incident, prompting her mother to pull her out of school to be homeschooled, the student argued.
Students are not required to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance if it violates their religious beliefs, and Texas law allows students to abstain from reciting the pledge if a parent approves, the Supreme Court ruled in its 1973 decision West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette.
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“Nonreligious students often face bullying or harassment for expressing their deeply held convictions,” said Nick Fish, president of American Atheists, in a statement. “No one should have to endure the years of harassment, disrespect, and bullying our client faced. The fact that this happened in a public school and at the hands of staff who should know better is particularly appalling.”
Arnold is still employed by the school district, a spokesperson told the Washington Examiner. It’s unclear whether it’s at the same school.
