Dawson High School in Dawsonville, Ga. painted over a depiction of a Latin cross located on a large boulder on the high school’s property, after a complaint by the Freedom From Religion Foundation.
FFRF Staff Attorney Patrick Elliott contacted the attorney for the Dawson County School District in a Feb. 15 letter, after a concerned district contacted FFRF. The cross was painted on the boulder near the football field and has been on display for many years.
Elliott wrote that public schools may not endorse religion and may not post religious icons on school grounds.
In April, the concerned parent notified FFRF that the cross was painted over.
This is not Dawson High School’s first state-church separation problem. In October 2012, a concerned student alerted FFRF that the school was planning on giving students at the public high school credit for attending bible study classes at a local bible “school.”
The classes were scheduled to begin in January 2013. In an October letter to supporters, the bible school claimed that classes were accredited through the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. After Elliott contacted the district informing it that the bible program was unaccredited, the school said that students would not be able to earn school credit for the bible classes and no such classes are currently being offered.