Woman Can Give Out Religious Literature at School

By Martha Deller, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas

Jun. 13–FORT WORTH — A Fort Worth grandmother can resume handing out religious literature to students outside Crowley High School, as long as she doesn’t block a section of sidewalk where students board school buses.

That agreement, announced Monday, is expected to end a federal lawsuit by Janice Colston against Crowley school officials, who barred her in April 2005 from distributing pamphlets on the sidewalk in front of the school.

Lawyers for Colston and the school district filed a joint dismissal motion last week in U.S. District Court. Judge Terry Means is expected to approve the settlement.

When contacted Monday, Colston, who won a $3,000 settlement from the Fort Worth school district in 2004 in a similar case, said she didn’t want to discuss the Crowley agreement.

She instead issued a statement through the Liberty Legal Institute, which filed the lawsuit on her behalf.

“I am pleased the case is over and that I can resume my calling to share my faith with others,” the statement read.

The settlement includes an undisclosed sum to pay Liberty Legal Institute for attorney’s fees. The Plano-based institute says it fights to protect religious freedom and First Amendment rights.

Hiram Sasser, litigation director for the institute, said Crowley Superintendent Greg Gibson was cooperative and sensitive to constitutional issues, which helped forge a compromise.

After Colston’s state lawsuit was transferred to federal court this spring, Sasser met with Gibson and Rhonda Crass, the school district’s attorney, in front of Crowley High School to take a look at the disputed area.

“We spray-painted a spot on the sidewalk in front of the school where the main doors open up,” Sasser said. “Mr. Gibson asked us if that was OK if she had that much space. That was pretty much where she wanted to be in the first place.”

In return, Sasser agreed to Gibson’s request that Colston refrain from approaching students on a portion of the sidewalk where the buses are loaded and unloaded.

Crass said the district might have won the suit on the grounds that Colston was not entitled to distribute pamphlets on a sidewalk that was private property. The city of Crowley deeded the land to the school district last year.

But Crass said an amicable settlement was in everyone’s best interest.

“If we all stood on our soapboxes, we could spend millions of dollars litigating,” Crass said. “With the uncertainty of school finance, we rolled up our sleeves and reached a solution. She can exercise her First Amendment rights, but she’s not going to be endangering herself or the children.”

The Colston settlement does not mean that anyone may distribute literature in front of any district school, Crass said. She said school officials will balance school safety and First Amendment concerns.

“School districts have the right to set … restrictions. … But we will not abridge First Amendment rights. We expect people to recognize our rights to protect students.”

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Martha Deller, (817) 390-7857 mdeller@star-telegram.com

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Copyright (c) 2006, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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