By Katie Vasquez and Bill Miller

PROSPECT HEIGHTS — A junior high school teacher and the Connecticut school where she worked are locked in a legal battle over her refusal to remove a crucifix from her classroom. 

Lawyers for Marisol Arroyo-Castro, who taught seventh grade, have sued the Consolidated School District of New Britain, her employer since 2004.  

Arroyo-Castro’s lawsuit, filed in a Connecticut federal court, claims that by ordering her to remove the crucifix, school district officials ignored religious freedom protections set out in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. 

Specifically, according to the lawsuit, that order violated the First Amendment’s “Free Exercise” clause, which protects a person’s right to freely practice religion, without interference from a government entity like a public school district. 

“To me, it’s like telling me to take down the picture of my father or the picture of my grandson,” Arroyo-Castro, a lifelong Catholic, told The Tablet on Aug. 11. “The crucifix has always been a part of my life and my family.” 

In a statement to The Tablet on Aug. 13, officials for the school district said that they tried to accommodate the teacher’s religious faith while also respecting the diverse religious beliefs of the students and the Constitution. 

The statement added, however, that “From the start, this teacher has insisted on displaying a crucifix on a classroom wall, visible to children in class, during instructional time.”

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The statement provided a comment from Tony Gasper, the school district’s superintendent, who said their “responsibility as a public school district is to provide a learning environment that respects the rights and beliefs of all students,”  

“We will continue to follow legal guidance throughout this process and remain committed to upholding both the law and the values of inclusion, neutrality, and respect for all,” he continued. 

Arroyo-Castro said that she was shocked when the vice principal at her former employer, DiLoreto Elementary & Middle School, sought a meeting in December.  

He reported complaints about the crucifix came from two people whom he declined to name. The vice principal told Arroyo-Castro to remove the crucifix, which had been displayed near her desk for a decade. 

She said that she asked why, and he responded that its presence violated the Constitution. 

“I’ve never read that,” she continued. “And he said, ‘It’s the law. It’s just the law.’ ” 

The district, in its response to the lawsuit, countered that the posting of a religious symbol, like a crucifix, violates the First Amendment’s “Establishment Clause,” which prohibits governments from showing preferences for one religion over others. 

Arroyo-Castro said the vice principal told her that refusing the order would be insubordination, which could bring consequences, like losing her job. 

She complied at first and repositioned the crucifix out of sight, below a tabletop. But that grieved her. 

“I mean, here he is on that cross,” Arroyo-Castro said, “and after all the things that he has done for me, here I am betraying him, putting him in a hidden place where nobody can see him.” 

Arroyo-Castro said she went home and wept all night. 

“I came back in the morning,” she recalled. “And I said, ‘I let you down, but I’m going to fix that by putting [the crucifix] back where it was.’ ” 

And she did. 

School district officials responded by suspending her without pay for two days. 

Next, they removed her from teaching and reassigned her to curriculum development in the district’s administration building.  

Arroyo-Castro said she had no experience in that field, and she prefers teaching. 

Lawyers from the Plano, Texas-based First Liberty Institute, a nonprofit legal services firm that specializes in religious freedom cases, are handling the lawsuit. 

Arroyo-Castro’s lawyer, Keisha Russell, told The Tablet that the lawsuit points out that other symbols, such as superhero characters and professional sports teams, appear at teachers’ stations throughout the school. 

She said the lawsuit’s claims have precedence based on Kennedy v. Bremerton School District (2022), in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of a football coach in Washington State, Joe Kennedy, who was fired for leading post-game prayers. 

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She added that the two clauses of the First Amendment are meant to complement each other, not to use one to “bludgeon” the other. 

Court hearings and an attempted mediation continued through July, but with no resolution. Arroyo-Castro said she hoped a federal judge would issue a ruling clearing her way back into the classroom before teachers report for the new school year on Aug. 19. 

School district officials, meanwhile, said in their statement that they, too, are eager for a court ruling. 

“While we regret the spectacle that this situation has caused, we look forward to a ruling from the court,” the statement read. “Meanwhile, the district will continue to focus on providing an effective learning environment in which all students and staff feel respected and valued.”