A Wisconsin high school that allegedly blocked a graduating teen girl from using Bible scripture has been threatened with legal action.
Sarianne Beronja, a recent graduate from Arrowhead High School in Hartland, claimed the verse she submitted, Proverbs 3:6, was abruptly blocked the night before she graduated, according to a letter sent Tuesday to the Arrowhead Union High School District by the the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, which is representing her.
The verse Beronja, 18, submitted for her commencement ceremony’s slideshow on June 6 read, ‘In all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your path,’ per the letter.
She was allegedly blocked from using the verse by the Arrowhead Union High School District ‘as it references religion,’ the letter added.
Beronja allegedly sent an alternative message one hour after the school’s denial but changed her mind hours before graduation because the new message ‘failed to capture an essential part of her journey.’
She allegedly asked the school to instead display, ‘All thanks to God for being beside me through these last four years,’ but that message was denied as well, per the letter.
Beronja is arguing that she was denied the chance to express her faith, even though other students were allegedly allowed to submit a wide array of pop culture references.
For instance, one student allegedly quoted rapper Wiz Khalifa, another made a reference to the dating reality show Love Island and a third promoted their Venmo account asking for college donations.
18-year-old Sariane Beronja, who graduated from Arrowhead High School in Hartland, Wisconsin, in June, alleged she was not allowed to use Bible scripture
Arrowhead High School (pictured) allegedly blocked Beronja from using the scripture ‘as it references religion,’ a letter written by her attorneys claimed
The letter insisted that Beronja was not asking the school to ‘endorse her religious beliefs,’ but that she was only asking to include a ‘brief personal statement’ in her graduation slide.
She claimed she wanted to do this ‘in the same way it permitted students to share non-religious messages.’
Additionally, Beronja claimed that students in the previous two graduating classes had been allowed to reference God and quote scripture.
The letter noted that Beronja would prefer to ‘resolve this matter cooperatively and without litigation,’ but that she was prepared to ‘pursue all available legal remedies.’
In a video released by her attorneys, Beronja said she picked Proverbs 3:6 because ‘it helped exemplify my time in high school and how much I experienced there and really wrapped it all together.’
She claimed that her second message, thanking God, was rejected because
But Beronja insisted that she was pushing forward with the battle over the graduation ceremony because of her religious beliefs.
‘It was really important to me and we’re called by God to specifically stand up for our faith, so that’s exactly what I did,’ she said.
Beronja picked Proverbs 3:6 because ‘it helped exemplify my time in high school and how much I experienced there and really wrapped it all together’
Arrowhead Union High School District Superintendent Conrad Farner said the graduation slideshow was ‘never meant to be a forum for ANY religious or political viewpoints’
Beronja’s attorneys are asking the school to issue a public apology to the recent graduate and her family, while ‘acknowledging that religious viewpoints are entitled to the same constitutional protections as comparable non-religious viewpoints and committing that future students will not be subjected to similar discrimination.’
But the high school district’s superintendent, Conrad Farner, said that the slideshow was ‘school-sponsored speech.’
Farner said administrators could edit or restrict school-sponsored expression if it was ‘reasonably related to legitimate educational concerns,’ he told TMJ4 News in a written statement, citing the 1988 Supreme Court ruling in Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier.
‘The slideshow was never meant to be a forum for ANY religious or political viewpoints,’ he added. ‘It is an extremely brief picture of each graduate that allows for an extremely brief thank you or future plans.’
Farner wrote that ‘expressions of personal[,] political or religious views can be limited as long as that expectation is applied consistently’ when it came to public schools.
He expressed concern that allowing religious and political views ‘would be inviting potentially divisive and controversial statements, which could even lead to disruptions that would negatively impact the ceremony.’
Beronja’s mother, Lora Engel, told the outlet that she took exception with the timing of the rejection.
‘They notified her at 11.46pm the day before graduation,’ Engel told the outlet. ‘It makes it feel like they didn’t want us to say anything about it.’
The Daily Mail has reached out to Beronja’s attorneys, Farner and its school board for comment.
