MILTON — Five years ago, Santa Rosa County was plunged into the first of several divisive legal battles over religion’s place in its schools.
Today, the school district is mending and has found renewed purpose in maintaining its status as one of the highest performing public school systems in Florida.
“It’s a completely different world,” Superintendent Tim Wyrosdick said. “ … We’ve learned to empower kids. We’ve learned to empower adults in their private capacity.
“I think we’re better listeners on this issue … and much more rational and much more practical.”
In August 2008, the same month Wyrosdick was elected to his first term in office, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against the district on behalf of two Pace High School students. The complaint alleged First Amendment violations and accused the district of forcing religion on its students.
By the following spring, the district had agreed to amend its practices and signed a five-year consent decree outlining what was and wasn’t permissible.
It could have ended there, but it didn’t.
Two educators would be held in contempt for violating the consent decree, the Liberty Counsel would file two legal challenges to the decree and a second lawsuit before a final settlement was reached in the summer 2011 at Wyrosdick’s urging.
“It was legal briefs every day. It was affidavits … It was sitting in I cannot tell you how many depositions,” Wyrosdick said. “I can just remember being so tired.”
The battles didn’t remain in the courtroom or between lawyers. The issue pitted siblings, spouses, parents, children and longtime friends against each other.
“Every entity in a school that functions to support a school was divided,” Wyrosdick said.
As the debate intensified, Wyrosdick encouraged principals and teachers to keep schools as sheltered from the fallout as possible and promised to handle the lawsuits at the district level.
He said the principals’ mission was to keep everyone focused on the reason they were all there: to educate kids.
Mike Thorpe was in his first year as principal of Milton High School when the lawsuit was filed. While he was more than aware of the legal battle, he took Wyrosdick’s advice to heart and focused on the academics.
When he walked in the door, the school had a D grade from the state. One year later, even as emotions in the prayer debate intensified, the school sky-rocketed to an A grade.
But Milton wasn’t immune to the religion issue. One student was involved in the lawsuit, and even led crowds in the Lord’s Prayer before football games.
Overall, though, students then and today didn’t really talk about what was happening, Thorpe said. They were more concerned, as he was, with setting themselves up for a strong future.
“It is a tough world for a high school student these days,” Thorpe said. “It’s so competitive.”
Today, the focus remains on academics, and Thorpe hopes Milton’s grade to be released later this year will reflect the extraordinary efforts put in by students and staff.
Pace High School, which was as ground zero in the controversy, has not forgotten what happened but also is moving forward, Principal Brian Shell said.
“For the most part, we’re at school and having school,” Shell said. “I’m more aware of things just because I need to be.”
Questions about the consent decree still pop up occasionally, but most were answered before Shell took over four years ago.
“Many of the students who were directly involved had graduated and moved on,” he said. “The kids (left) had kind of moved into their lives of being teenagers.”
Not everyone is happy with how the issue was resolved or with the guidelines they need to follow, but they’ve accepted them, Shell said.
If one positive has come out of all of it, it’s the increased leadership shown by students in schools’ religious clubs across the district, Shell and Wyrosdick said.
In the past they relied heavily on sponsors for organization and implementation. For the last five years they’ve taken on that responsibility and prayer hasn’t ceased.
The difference is it’s only initiated and only led by students, for students.
Just as the consent decree requires.
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Katie Tammen at 850-315-4440 or ktammen@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @KatieTnwfdn.