School Delays Student's Religious Valentines

In Wisconsin's Kettle Moraine School District, staff members at Wales Elementary School attracted the attention of local radio talk shows and blogs when they took valentines with religious messages from a student to see if they complied with the school's policy against distributing materials that "seek to market, solicit money, recruit, indoctrinate or convert." Yesterday's Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports that school officials decided the valentines were permissible because, whiile they endorsed religion, they were private speech. Superintendent Patricia Deklotz said she was sorry that the 5th grader's distribution of cards to her classmates was delayed. The school's current policy was adopted in 2001 after another incident involving religious valentines led to the filing of a federal lawsuit.