Peoria school district hit with lawsuit over Bible verses at board meetings

A school board member is suing Peoria Unified School District claiming her freedom of speech and free exercise of religion are being curtailed because district officials asked her to stop reciting Bible verses during board meetings.

Heather Rooks filed the lawsuit Tuesday in federal court. She's being represented by Andrew Gould, who stepped down from the Arizona Supreme Court in 2021 to run for attorney general. Gould is working for First Liberty Institute, a conservative legal organization based in Texas that defended Aaron and Melissa Klein, owners of a bakery in Oregon who refused to create a custom wedding cake for a lesbian couple in 2013.

“Heather takes her responsibilities serving the parents and students in her community seriously, and quotes Bible verses as a source of courage and strength in performing those duties," Gould said in a statement.

Rooks, who joined the board in January, had been reciting Bible verses during the portion of governing board meetings reserved for members to “publicly recognize schools, groups or individuals who have made a contribution to the district, as well as share information related to their service as Board members,” according to boilerplate language on Peoria Unified's board meeting agendas.

Beginning in February, according to Rooks' lawsuit, several district officials, including the board's legal counsel, told board members that they should refrain from quoting Bible verses during meetings because doing so would be a violation of the U.S. Constitution's Establishment Clause, which guards against the government favoring a particular religion.

Then, in June, the district received a letter from the Freedom From Religion Foundation urging the Peoria Unified School District administration to stop its board members from quoting Bible verses during meetings and warning that if board members continue to “impose religion on those in attendance, it could subject the school district to unnecessary liability and potential financial strain.”

The letter prompted the board to be told again by its lawyer that quoting Bible verses raised the threat of legal liability for the district. Rooks, at a board meeting, subsequently said she would stop reciting Bible verses and have her attorneys get involved.

"I am grateful to be a part of the Peoria Unified School board," Rooks said in a statement about her lawsuit. "As a member of the school board, I understand the weight and significance of all of our decisions, and simply find quoting scripture out loud to be encouraging to myself and to many in attendance."

As a board member, Rooks spearheaded a failed push to prevent transgender students from accessing bathrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity. She also voted against a free computer science training program for three of the district’s schools from Microsoft due to a statement on the program’s website that expressed a commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.

Erin Dunsey, a spokesperson for Peoria Unified, said Wednesday afternoon that the district had not yet been officially served with the suit.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Peoria school district sued over Bible verses at board meetings