School District To Teacher Buell: 'Keep Church and State Separate'

Jerry Buell, Mount Dora High School's 2010 teacher of the year, recently returned to his classroom after a comment he made on Facebook sparked an investigation. That investigation was outlined in a letter released Tuesday morning.
According to Lake County School District officials, a former student reported a Facebook post by Buell about gay marriage. Buell stated on his personal profile that he “almost threw up” over a news story about legalizing same-sex marriage and went on to write that same-sex marriage is a “cesspool.”
In a letter to Buell, Lake County School Superintendent Susan Moxley wrote that the comments could be interpreted as a code of ethics violation. Moxley also said that as a teacher, Buell's communications with students on social media websites are not considered confidential.
The letter also indicated "serious concern" over a statement made in Buell's syllabus.
"The statement in the miscellaneous section of the syllabus, which fortunately was not distributed to students, contains language which clearly crosses the line of separation of church and state that public school employees must follow," Moxley wrote in the letter.
The letter quotes the statement as, "I am a man of God and I try to be like Jesus every day. I teach God's truth, I make very few compromises. If you believe you have a problem with that, get your schedule changed, 'cause I ain't changing!"
The investigation also found concern over Buell's teacher webpage on the Mount Dora High School website. The board said Buell expressing personal religious beliefs there violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution -- the separation of church and state.
"Future breaches and failure to maintain the separation of church and state may lead to more serious disciplinary issues," the superintendent said in the letter.


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