Court Lets Stand Ruling on School Serving Sect

By Mark Walsh

Washington

The U.S. Supreme Court last week rejected a challenge to a Minnesota district's operation of a public school that largely excludes technology at the request of a Protestant religious sect known as the Brethren.

The justices declined without a comment to hear the appeal of a ruling that said the arrangement did not violate the First Amendment's prohibition against government establishment of religion.

The Washington-based group Americans United for Separation of Church and State organized the lawsuit against the 200-student Wabasso, Minn., district. The group contended that the district established the school at the request of Brethren members in the rural town of Vesta and agreed to exclude computers, televisions, and other modern technological teaching tools because of...