Disability Rights and Religious Liberty in Education

American public schools have long served as arenas for challenges over basic civil rights, from desegregation and busing, to freedom of religion and speech. Such was the case with the 1993 Supreme Court decision that is the topic of Bruce J. Dierenfield and David A. Gerber's book. Sandi Zobrest and Larry Zobrest chose to send their hearing-impaired son, Jim, to a Roman Catholic high school. It appeared that the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (1975) would compel educational authorities at the Catalina Foothills School District, where Jim had been enrolled, to furnish a sign interpreter. They refused, claiming that the First Amendment's establishment clause prohibited them. This led Jim's parents to file a lawsuit against the district. Dierenfield and Gerber methodically steer readers through the “tangled web of jurisprudence” created by the Supreme Court, especially focusing on the impact of the 1971 Lemon v. Kurtzman decision (p. 121). The Court's ruling, in the end, focused on religious rather than disability claims

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