In March 2015, the ACLU of Michigan received a complaint that the McBain public school system in northern Michigan was seeking to hire a new superintendent with a “strong Christian background and philosophy.” This requirement was listed among the job criteria in an official job announcement posted online, and the board of education had approved the language of the ad before it was posted. The job announcement, moreover, had been written by a professional consultant with over thirty years of experience working in public schools. We wrote a letter to the school board explaining that the job posting, in addition to being unconstitutional and violating numerous federal and state laws, sent the wrong message to students and their families, as well as teachers and staff, about religious tolerance and inclusiveness. The school board immediately confessed that it had made a mistake and removed the Christianity requirement from its job posting.
(ACLU Attorney Dan Korobkin and Legal Fellow Marc Allen; Cooperating Attorney Steve Morse.)
View the full 2014-2015 Legal Docket.
