The Los Alamitos Unified Board of Education voted unanimously to approve the district contract with Cottonwood Church on Tuesday, Feb. 11, according to Sherry Kropp, district superintendent.
Kropp said the district would use the church site for the all-district chorale event and the eighth-grade promotion.
But an attorney for a group that is adamant about separation of religion from government said Monday, Feb. 17, that it was “disturbing” that the district would choose a religions venue rather than a secular one.
The use of the Los Alamitos mega-church became an issue in September 2013, when the Freedom From Religion Foundation sent a letter to Los Alamitos Unified School District that called on the district to find a secular venue for events. The foundation insists that it is unconstitutional for the district to hold events at a church and that the courts have consistently agreed with that position.
The media has described the foundation as an atheist group. Their website only describes its support for the doctrine of separating church and state.
In January 2014, school district staff advised the board to continue using the Cottonwood Church site.
In this particular controversy, the foundation was apparently responding to a complaint from a parent in the district.
“The practice of graduations being held in churches in particular has been struck down by courts,” wrote Andrew Seidel, a staff attorney for the Freedom From Religion Foundation, in a September 2013 letter to the school district.
The foundation repeated its opposition to using the church for graduation ceremonies in a January 2014 letter to Los Al Unified.
Last month, Johnson said the district respectfully disagreed with the foundation.
Johnson said the district had looked at other venues. He cited the proximity of Cottonwood Church and the quality of both the facility and its staff as reasons to continue using the location.
This week, Seidel said he was aware of the school board’s Feb. 11 decision.
He said it was disturbing that the board had chosen a religious venue.
He said an eighth-grade promotion ceremony would be small enough to move to a secular location.
Seidel also said the district had moved all but three events elsewhere.
Seidel said he could not confirm the identity of the complainant, but volunteered the fact the person who complained is a member of the foundation.
He said the foundation was still talking with the person who made the initial complaint to decide what to do net. He said right now, the foundation was just looking and planning.
“We haven’t made a decision yet,” Seidel said.
He said lawsuits were a last resort. But Seidel also said two other organizations that share the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s views had expressed concern about the Los Alamitos case.
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