Taryn Israelson, a first-grade teacher at J.R. Smith Elementary School in Heber, hung a sign in the teacher’s lounge in October 2024 inviting faculty to join a “prayer chain.”
A few days later, the principal at J.R. Smith asked Israelson to take the sign down because of its religious nature.
Now, attorneys connected to the nonprofit First Liberty Institute have asked the Wasatch County School District to allow Israelson’s sign to go back up.
In a letter to the district April 28, attorneys Michael Menssen and Keisha Russell said the principal’s request violated the teacher’s constitutional right to express her religion.
Menssen is based in the Salt Lake City office of Mayer Brown LLP. Russell is senior counsel at First Liberty, a Texas-based organization focused on defending religious freedom.
Russell told KPCW Tuesday the First Liberty Institute got involved after Israelson contacted the organization. Russell said posting a flyer about prayer in the teacher’s lounge is constitutionally protected speech, since other forms of private expression are allowed.
“Whenever the government opens a forum – that means a place where you can speak; so, for example, in the break room, people can post things on the fridge or put things on the table or have open discussions around the table, and the government allows that – then it can’t discriminate against religious speech,” she said. “That’s what the Constitution calls viewpoint discrimination, and it’s unconstitutional.”
She said since Israelson isn’t speaking on behalf of the district, it’s not government speech, so it’s protected by law.
Russell compared it to the Kennedy v. Bremerton School District case, when the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a high school football coach who prayed on the field after games.
She said that although the First Amendment prohibits a government entity from favoring or endorsing a religion, that doesn’t mean all religious expression is prohibited.
“The establishment clause says that the government cannot establish a religion,” she said. “A lot of governments, especially school districts, took that idea, combined with the idea of the separation of church and state, and assumed that meant religion had to be censored and banished from the public square. But that’s not what that clause means.”
The attorneys gave the district a deadline of May 14 to “rescind” the principal’s request to take the sign down. Otherwise, Russell said the situation could escalate to a lawsuit.
“In this situation, we’re hoping that a letter to the school district will be enough, and we won’t have to move forward with any kind of lawsuit or anything like that,” Russell said. “But I can tell you it’s hard to predict.”
This isn’t the first time First Liberty has intervened in a Utah school district’s actions. In 2023, the organization warned the Davis County School District not to remove copies of the Bible from its libraries despite a parent’s complaint that its content violated the state’s sensitive materials law. The books were later returned to the shelves.
In a statement to KPCW Monday, the district said it is “aware of the letter” from the attorneys and said it’s gathering more information.
“As a public school district, we are committed to respecting the constitutional rights of all employees while also ensuring that our policies comply with applicable federal and state laws, including those that govern the separation of church and state,” it said. “The district strives to foster an inclusive environment for all staff and students, regardless of their individual beliefs.”
The district said it hasn’t made any decisions yet about “the most appropriate path forward.”
