Reporter: This is a story about religion in schools. Delta County Schools on the Western slope has come under fire before for handing out Bibles to students, and now this student says her teachers changed her grades and counselors wrote her bad letters of recommendation because she questioned it. As the school year gets underway in Delta, Colorado, administrators now have some hefty reading of their own - a 30-page lawsuit from a recent Delta high grad.
Jeffrey Springer: “She was an honor student, a wonderful student”
Reporter:The suit alleges Sydney Fisk almost failed her senior year, and was denied college scholarships, because of school staff.
Jeffrey Springer: Not only did they change her grades, they took away recommendations, and they ostracized her.
Reporter: The allegations began when the school hired this speaker to come in for a Sex Ed assembly. Her website says she is passionately committed to Jesus Christ as the answer for teen sex.
Jeffrey Springer: We maintain that the Delta administrators all the way up to the principal of the school used religion to educate and control students to a certain extent.
Reporter: And when Sydney, an atheist, questioned that, she says her grades were changed to F’s, almost immediately.
Jeffrey Springer: Freedom of religion is not only freedom of religion, it’s freedom to disagree with religion, to not have a religion.
Reporter: She says her teacher told her he lowered the grades because she questioned religious authority and that if she wanted her grades to go up, she should fake it until she makes it.
Jeffrey Springer: I will certainly fight to protect everybody’s religious views and the right to practice religion, but I think when you seek to impose your religious views on others, that’s dangerous.
Reporter: And he says it’s unconstitutional.
Jeffrey Springer: We have a constitutional protection that says there is a separation of church and state. Religion does not belong in the schools, it’s not to be taught in the schools.
Reporter: Her attorney says this case is about making sure everyone has an equal voice.
According to the lawsuit, the superintendent once told a reporter they don’t have to follow federal guidelines because they don’t take tax dollars for Sex Ed programs. We called and emailed the district today but did not get a response. Ashley Michaels - Fox 31.