Suit was filed this week in a Texas federal district court by a former middle school teacher who is a Humanist contending that the Texas school at which he formerly taught violated the Establishment, Free Exercise and Free Speech clauses of the First Amendment through sectarian prayer at mandatory district-wide staff meetings and in other ways. The complaint (full text) in Castillo v. Rio Hondo Independent School District. (SD TX, filed 10/28/2026), alleges in part:
13. Without giving staff any advance notice that the mandatory meetings would include religious observances, Superintendent Trevino and President Guerra took turns opening each meeting with an explicitly evangelical Christian prayer. One or the Other commenced each meeting by calling everyone present to rise. Once staff members were standing, Superintendent Trevino or President Guerra instructed them to bow their heads and join in prayer. The group prayer began immediately, with no opportunity for any staff member to excuse themselves from the room. A second prayer, also without advance notice or an opportunity to opt out, often followed later in the meeting. These prayers put staff who did not wish to participate in an untenable situation. Leaving the room once the prayers had begun, or even remaining seated, would have been conspicuous and drawn the attention of colleagues and the very employers leading the prayers. Staff members like Mr. Castillo were thus forced to choose between violating their own religious conscience and being singled out and subjected to retribution....
20. As a result of Rio Hondo ISD's failure to adequately train its leadership and its indifference to the rights and concerns of its staff, Mr. Castillo was subjected to further instances of school-sponsored Christian religious expression and denominational discrimination, beyond the nine district-wide meetings he was required to attend.
21. ... Rio Hondo Middle School prominently displayed two unsigned posters on school walls, each citing Jeremiah 29: 11 and bearing [in full or in part] the quotations "as long as God keeps waking you up He still has a Plan For you".... The posters were displayed in the same space the school ordinarily uses for announcements, rules, mottos, and other official messages....
American Humanist Association issued a press release announcing the filing of the lawsuit.
