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Round Rock resident donates Ten Commandments posters
A Round Rock parent’s attempt to donate a Ten Commandments poster has now escalated into a legal showdown. Texas AG Ken Paxton recently filed suit against Round Rock, Leander ISDs over SB 10.
ROUND ROCK, Texas - A Round Rock parent’s attempt to donate a Ten Commandments poster has now escalated into a legal showdown.
It stems from a growing fight over faith, classrooms, and whether Texas public schools must follow a new state law.
What they're saying:
Scott Nevil is a Christian.
When Senate Bill 10 was about to become effective in Texas, he offered to donate a Ten Commandments poster to an elementary school in Round Rock ISD. SB 10 requires public schools to display the Ten Commandments in each classroom.
Nevil received pushback from the district.
Federal judge orders removal of Ten Commandments from some Texas schools
The decision requires the religious rules to be removed from certain school districts by Dec. 1.
"It started with the conversation with the principal. The next day, I got an email from their general counsel saying, hey, feel free to send it to us, we'll hold it, and we're pending litigation to see what happens with the Alamo Heights decision and the Fifth Circuit," Nevil said.
Nevil didn’t think ‘holding’ the poster followed the law. He eventually had a closed-session meeting with members of the district.
"We talked. They gave me a packet of the reason why they were not going to move forward with it and I gave them my 10-minute speech of why I believed they should," Nevil said.
Nevil had also been in contact with the Texas Attorney General’s Office.
"After that meeting I sent more information to the AG which allowed them to have enough information I guess to move forward," Nevil said.
The AG is now suing the district stating Round Rock ISD had specifically chosen to openly defy state law.
Nevil said his fight is about ensuring the district is following the law.
AG Paxton sues Central Texas school districts for refusing to display Ten Commandments in classrooms
Two Central Texas school districts are being sued by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for refusing to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms.
"This isn’t necessarily all about the Ten Commandments, if this was any other religion and they wanted to put a poster up, you would support that as long as it followed the law," FOX 7 Reporter Meredith Aldis asked.
"Right, and I think that it comes down to, if we were in a state that was a different religion, that the whole state decided to get behind and vote into law that, hey, we want X on the wall, so be it. I don't think that there's anything necessarily wrong with Texas being a very enshrined in Judeo-Christian beliefs that they believed enough to put this into law," Nevil responded.
Round Rock ISD sent FOX 7 a similar response as the one Nevil received about waiting for further judicial guidance and said, "At this time, state law conflicts with longstanding federal law regarding the separation of church and state, where a public school district is considered ‘state.’
"I would love to be the first one that can slap my poster up on the wall. Not as a I gotcha, not as a, I told you so, but as a thank you for making the right decision for following the law," Nevil said.
Round Rock ISD issues statement on AG lawsuit
The other side:
Round Rock ISD’s full statement:
"Round Rock ISD received a copy of the Attorney General’s press release this morning and anticipates that it will soon be served with the lawsuit.
As we have shared with the students and families in our district, we have been closely following the other litigation surrounding the display of the Ten Commandments in Texas public school classrooms.
Specifically, we have been awaiting further judicial guidance from the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. At this time, state law conflicts with longstanding federal law regarding the separation of church and state, where a public school district is considered "state."
We were hopeful that we could avoid using scarce district resources for litigation when the question will be fully addressed by the Fifth Circuit in an upcoming decision set for hearing in January. However, in light of the attorney general’s premature actions, we will be consulting outside legal counsel."
Big picture view:
A federal judge has decided that displaying the Ten Commandments in every school classroom is unconstitutional, but the order only applies to specific districts and Round Rock ISD is not included.
The Source: Information in this report comes from interviews/reporting by FOX 7 Austin's Meredith Aldis