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Illinois Mandatory Moment of Silence Law

By Justin Bathon

In Illinois, there has been an ongoing controversy over their mandatory moment of silence law. Well, now a judge has ruled that there is no punishment for districts that fail to comply:

A mandatory moment of silence foisted upon Illinois schoolchildren by state lawmakers in October is somewhat less mandatory today.

United States District Judge Robert Gettleman said Thursday that the state school superintendent can't punish districts that don't hold a moment of silence. The office of Chris Koch, superintendent of the state board of education, always contended there was no penalty in the law to begin with.

Gettleman's ruling stems from a lawsuit filed by Rob Sherman, an outspoken local atheist, and his daughter Dawn, a freshman at Buffalo Grove High School. They say the moment of silence is akin to school prayer and deprives Dawn of instructional time during the school day.

Here is a news report on the lawsuit that was filed to stop the mandatory moment of silence suit:

Full post as published by Edjurist on November 27, 2007 (boomark / email).