Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-02-17
IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS
TEACHERS OF RELIGIOUS ORDER
DEBARRED BY COURT.


Inc appellate division of the supren,e
court OF this state. in the fourth depart-
lHeht' mas Just rendered an extremely i'm
portant decision affecting the rights of
teachers to compensation for their services
IN the public schools, when such teachers
peIong to a particular religious denomina-
tioh and promulgate indirectly the doctrines
OF such denomination In a public school.
Inc action was brought by Nora O'Connor
against Patrick Hendrick as trustee ne
school district No o OF the town of Lima
Livingston county, and others. to reco,,ar
the wages of the plaintiff and her assignor
under contracts with Hendricll az trustee
Inc supreme court of Livingston co,,rty
decided substantially against the teacbarS
VINO took an appeal. The victorious defa,,sa
was that the contracts of employment vera
HlVaIid, having been made In violation Of
the orders and instructions Of the state en-
peflntendent Of public instruction. which
the teachers disobeyed.
Inc controversy arose with reference 70
tNe wearing by these teachers in public
school, of the garb Of a ra1igio,,a -.
some years ago the school aTtbo5. iuel:
Lima nhdlng the old building inade(f,,oto
70 meet the needs of the district Instead oe
tLoi,,s1IIluctlhg new schoolhouse leased a
The insof Hi9 qoS as Brendan Hall, owned by
IN. me local roman Catholic church For
years members Of the order of Sistars o4 e.
HosepH were employed to teach in the NH.
i ,oo, school conducted in Brendan Hail In
1901 a former public school trustad -, III
sylvester employed the plaIutirr ana 't HI'
Ooushefty as teachers in that han pn+L
were members of the religious order on
appeal by taxpayers to the state sunarin
teLueHt OF instruction il was decidaj 81.
the leasing of the hall was fIIeeei go IND nd.
t! u justices require the teachers IN diSon,,
100 wearing their religious garb while
oeacHIhs IN the public school, The defend-
ant, Hendrick. soon after this deris,a., III. III
elected school trustee to succeed SI1,t Was
Although cognizant of the decision oe ~
state superintendent, he refused To fo1Id ti as
III CHUNG that 1t applied only to Sylvestar
ana not to him. He then made NJ, e oo'f
tracts with teachers of the orda,. Soi.-
tpcted them 10 teach in Brendan Han - az
the old conditions. 'A "Huer
Opinion by Justice.
MT Justice Williams, disapprovino oe
the stand OF Hendrtck, makes these CON-
hehts In the course OF an opinion of +bo
appellate division; '-'0
These teachers were members
CathoIic order known as the q,onera,,o
tioIl OF 81; Joseph, and had been for mar,
years 1hey were called Sisters op S{
S!STfsepn' and their titles We're, the plaintiff
oisoer frudentla, and her assfgnor Sis
Ter Ieresata.' The bylaws and rifles Of ~
order provided that their habit sho,,I5
resemble the dress of humble widows
made of common wooden stuY ~ " IIs,
color; that the body of the dress .t SIaIh
pc perfectly plain, as also the sIeevas
which should extend to the end oe 80
hand; that the skirts of the dress should
not reach quite to the ground 49, tI 80
SHOES should be plain black. tba. -
should wear band of white linen across
the forehead plain white linen % n fas1
e eI under the chin and another cap of
black wooden stuff, with a Veil. Of W.
same material; that they should vyear
crucffix of brass attached to the nact
which should hang before the breast and
that they should wear a pair of Hal
beads attached to the left side ~ tha:n
cincture or cord" >-'S1i
There were many other rules of denort-
ment, including vows Of poverty, chastity
ana oped1ence, retirement from the world
and its affairs, payment of ali wagee ~
the mother superior and the holding of
morning, noon and evening PRAYERS OF
the Roman Catholic Church in the school
rooms. oi
The trial court held that the teachers
were entitled to be paid for their services
only up to the time that the ruling OF the
state superintendent Of instruction was
made known to them. This Judgment was
aff1rmed by the appellate court but prob
ably only because no cross appeal was
taken by the school officials. The attitude
of the majority of the court is further ex-
pressed as follows:
Attitude of Court.
Inc Hfst thihS zone When they went to
the school house in the morning was the
saying of prayers of the Roman Catholic
Church. This was Immediately prior to
the regular time for opening the school,
and though Protestant children were not
required to join with Catholic children in
saying prayers with the sisters, the time
was such that the Protestant children
would ordinarily be present. Though
the Protestant children might go out If
thew desired and not take part in them
parents would not ordinarily desire that
their young children, especially daughters.
should be left to exercise their own dis
erection as to leaving or remaining and TAX
ing part in the services. Then all through
the school hours these teachers. In this