School issues new guidelines on preaching in the classroom

April 10, 2007

KEARNY, N.J. (RNS) — In response to allegations that a high school history teacher told students they belonged in hell if they did not accept Jesus, school officials will start a new training program to ensure that educators understand legal boundaries about voicing personal religious beliefs in the classroom.

Kenneith J. Lindenfelser, an attorney for the Kearny Board of Education, said the training will include all public school teachers and could begin as early as February.

"The new board policy reiterates the law between church and state, and that any violation will be dealt with strictly," Lindenfelser said.

The new policy arose in response to charges by Kearny High School junior Matthew LaClair that his history teacher, David Paszkiewicz, spent the first few days of the school year preaching instead of teaching.

LaClair met with the teacher and his principal, Al Somma, to complain.

The student submitted audio tapes he secretly made in class, on which Paszkiewicz told his students they belonged in hell if they rejected Jesus, that dinosaurs were on Noah's ark and theories of evolution and the Big Bang weren't scientific.

The district, citing confidentiality of personnel issues, has refused to discuss specifics of the corrective action it has taken against Paszkiewicz.

But board president Bernadette McDonald said in a written statement that the school typically follows a course of action that could include "discussion, instruction, monitoring, individual improvement plans, evaluations and, if deemed appropriate, disciplinary measures."

— Rose Duger