Connecticut school district suspends Catholic teacher for refusing to remove cross beside desk
Marisol Arroyo-Castro, a teacher at DiLoreto Elementary and Middle School. The teacher's legal team insists that the small crucifix was among other personal belongings. In addition, she claims that other teachers also have personal items, including some religious ones.

A believer holds a cross
A Catholic public school teacher in Connecticut reported that she was suspended and threatened with dismissal after refusing to remove a crucifix beside her desk. The incident occurred in the New Britain Consolidated School District.
What happened came to light after First Liberty Institute, a nonprofit religious liberty law firm, threatened the school district with legal action for allegedly violating the constitutional rights of DiLoreto Elementary and Middle School teacher Marisol Arroyo-Castro.
According to the complaint, school administrators suspended Arroyo-Castro without pay, placed her on administrative leave and threatened to fire her. "All for displaying a crucifix next to her desk in the corner of the classroom," reads a letter from the teacher's legal team that was sent to Fox News Digital.
Similarly, the letter details that the small crucifix accompanied - for more than 10 years - Arroyo-Castro's other personal belongings on the desk. In addition, the lawyers claim that other professors have personal objects on their desks as well, including some religious ones.
However, in December, DiLoreto's vice principal ordered Arroyo-Castro to remove the crucifix after concerns were raised about its display. The teacher did not remove the cross, which led to another meeting with school administrators and a representative of the teachers' union.
Allegedly, an agreement was reached at that meeting about where Castro could hang the cross so that it would be less visible to students. But, according to lawyers, the teacher was later told to hang the cross under her desk. The teacher did not agree to the request.
After her refusal, Arroyo-Castro was summoned to another meeting, where a district official apparently warned her that a few days without pay would help her reflect on whether it was in her best interest to keep the cross on the wall. She was then suspended without pay for two days.
In addition, it was learned that the teacher was warned that she would face an additional five-day suspension if she did not comply with the district's demands when she returned to school. After expressing to the district that she would not keep the crucifix under her desk, she was placed on paid administrative leave.
Her attorneys noted that while on administrative leave she has been pressured to resign or take early retirement, sign an agreement not to sue the district, and she has been threatened with termination unless she agrees to hide the crucifix.
Legal arguments
"The legal group argues the district is violating the teacher's First and Fourteenth Amendment rights under the US Constitution, as well as religious freedom protections under state law and workplace discrimination protections," Fox News explained.
Meanwhile, the school district denies that version of events. It asserted that the teacher's decision to display a religious symbol on the wall of the public school classroom is a "clear violation" of federal and state laws that ensure public schools remain neutral on religious matters.
"That the symbol posted was on the front wall of the classroom is important. It was part of the classroom environment for all students to see, infringing on the religious freedom of our students," the district explained in statements picked up by Fox.
"We will not allow any teacher to use their position of authority to impose their personal religious beliefs or infringe on the civil rights of students," added Tony Gasper, Superintendent of Schools.
Following the school district's version, Keisha Russell, senior adviser for the First Liberty Institute, indicated that school officials need to update themselves on the issue:
"The Supreme Court has made it clear that the days of intimidating teachers from even the most benign expressions of faith are over. Asking a teacher to purge their workspace of anything religious is an affront to the First Amendment and violates both state and federal law. The school district needs to back down now."