Litigation and Religious Beliefs

By Walter S. MacKay

As a board member I will never cause a lawsuit to be filed against the district or its board members which occurred in the past. This lawsuit, which the district won, caused the district educational/taxpayers dollars that could have been used for the education of our students. Our students were the real losers in this lawsuit. If a lawsuit were to be filed, as a board member I would never voluntary provide information to assist the person suing our district. This has occurred in the past. This type of action by a board member is not being fiscally responsible with educational/taxpayers dollars.

I would never attempt to impose my personal religious beliefs on the students our district as was attempted in the past. Among our students there are many religious beliefs To attempt to impose one religious belief over other religious beliefs would be wrong. If the attempt did succeed, a lawsuit would be filed and our district would again be involved in another lawsuit. More educational/taxpayers dollars would be wasted in defending the lawsuit. Again, even if the lawsuit is won, our students are again the real losers. I am aware that the Courts have ruled that the word "God" does not in and of itself promote one religion over any other religion. The attempt made by a board member was to impose an interpretation of the words in the Pledge of Allegiance by a Christian organization and post same in every classroom in Colerain High School. This attempt was against the advice of the attorney for the board.