Shields is President of the People For the American Way Foundation, whose efforts in Lee County during the past two years have helped produce the victory.

Last December, Lee County parents and other concerned citizens filed a lawsuit in federal court to stop the Lee County School Board from teaching an unconstitutional "Bible History" course that uses the Bible as though it were a history textbook.

Serving as co-counsel in the lawsuit are the Florida law firm of Steel Hector & Davis, People For the American Way Foundation and the ACLU Foundation of Florida.

In January, U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Kovachevich issued an injunction against the teaching of the school board's New Testament curriculum. The judge allowed, for the time being, the teaching of the Old Testament portion of the course, but only under strict monitoring, and ordered the two sides to engage in settlement negotiations.

A settlement offer submitted to the school board last Monday on behalf of the plaintiffs was the result of these negotiations.

"This settlement is a victory for the plaintiffs and for everyone in Lee County who cares about the First Amendment and religious liberty," Shields said. "The plaintiffs have achieved what they set out to achieve in bringing this lawsuit: the withdrawal of the unconstitutional curricula adopted by the school board and, in their place, new and objective curricula for teaching students about the Bible."

Under the terms of the settlement agreed to Wednesday night by the Lee County School Board, the Board will withdraw the Old Testament and New Testament curricula that it previously adopted and that were challenged in the lawsuit as unconstitutional because they teach the Bible as true. Instead, the Board has agreed to teach a new, objective and non-sectarian course based upon a textbook entitled Introduction to the Bible.

Lisa Versaci, Florida director of the People for the American Way Foundation, said that under the terms of the settlement, the word "history" is no longer in the course title.

"This too is a victory," she said. "The new course will not be a history course, and the Board recognizes in the settlement agreement that it cannot lawfully teach that unverifiable aspects of the Bible, such as the miracles and resurrection of Jesus, are historical fact.

"For nearly two years, we have advised this school board that there is a right way and a wrong way to teach about the Bible in public schools. At great cost to this school district, financially and emotionally, this Board consistently chose the wrong way. We are pleased that the Board has now seen fit to abandon its former course, and we hope that no further litigation will be necessary."

People For the American Way Foundation is a 300,000-member non-profit organization dedicated to defending civil rights; promoting the democratic values of religious freedom and respect for diversity; and developing a culture of opportunity and tolerance of individual difference.

People For the American Way Foundation
2000 M Street NW Suite 400
Washington DC 20036
http://pfaw.org | pfaw@pfaw.org
202 467 4999 | Fax: 202 293 2672