A Klein Oak High School student in Texas has won a $90,000 settlement after being harassed and bullied by a teacher for refusing to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance, according to a release from the civil rights organization American Atheists.
In the 2017 suit, the nonreligious student said she chose not to recite the pledge out of objection to the words “Under God” and her belief that “liberty and justice for all” is not guaranteed for people of color in the U.S.
Sociology teacher Benjie Arnold allegedly singled her out and and threatened to fail her for not observing the pledge.
“What you’ve done is leave me no option but to give you a zero, and you can have all the beliefs and resentment and animosity that you want,” he told her.
Benjie was also heard in an audio recording of the incident offering to pay for students to move to Europe if they didn’t like living in America, but they would have to pay him back double if they ever returned to the U.S.
The harassment got so bad that the girl’s mother opted to homeschool her temporarily. However, the harassment continued and intensified when she returned to school, the release said.
The Texas Association of School Boards paid to resolve the case before it went to trial in Houston federal court.
“The classroom is not a pulpit. It is a place of education, not indoctrination,” Geoffrey T. Blackwell, Litigation Counsel at American Atheists said in the release. “This settlement serves as a reminder that students do not lose their First Amendment rights when they enter the classroom.”
“It is incredible—the time and money spent by the Klein Independent School District to stop a student’s free speech,” Texas civil rights attorney Randall Kallinen said. “School staff need to teach the Constitution, not violate it
