Suit Against Charter School Over Accommodating Family's Religious Practice Proceeds

In Meadows v. Lesh, (WD NY, Oct. 6, 2011), a parent sued a charter school for religious discrimination alleging that the school principal undercut the request by the mother of a school child that the charter school respect their "familial religious practice" of fasting from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. by excusing the child from the cafeteria during lunch. Apparently the fasting was in observance of Lent. Initially the complaint was dismissed for failure to allege that the charter school was acting under color of state law. (See prior posting.) Now, considering an amended complaint, the New York federal district court allowed the suit to proceed in part, holding that it is unable to conclude as a matter of law that a charter school is not a state actor. The court also found that plaintiff has adequately pleaded the sincerity of her religious beliefs and has adequately set out an equal protection claim. However plaintiff had not alleged an official custom or policy as would be required to hold the governmental entity liable. The court allowed the pro se plaintiff to file a second amended complaint to cure this defect. Finally the court rejected a qualified immunity defense at this point.