Federal judge rules against Christian schools asking to reopen amid COVID-19 restrictions

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – A federal judge in Oregon ruled against three Christian schools last Thursday, deciding that current state COVID-19 restrictions on in-person learning are constitutional, the Christian Post reports. The schools claimed Gov. Kate Brown’s coronavirus executive order violates First Amendment rights of institutions to have in-person classes.

The state executive order had originally allowed all K-12 schools to resume in-person classes, on the condition they followed Oregon health authority and education department guidelines. However, under the extended order, K-12 schools can only open if their county has 10 or fewer coronavirus cases per 100,000 residents and has 5% or fewer positive tests per week.

The Horizon Christian School, McMinnville Christian Academy and Life Christian School had filed a motion in which they asked to be treated like universities and daycare centers, which are allowed to open with in-person attendance.

Representing the schools in court, attorney John Kaempf said: “Zoom learning is not what Christian learning is about. My clients are called to communal in person faith-based learning,” the Associated Press reported.

Giving his ruling in favor of the state executive order, U.S. District Judge Michael W. Mosman noted that religious K-12 schools are not being treated any differently than public K-12 schools.  In a press conference last week Gov. Brown said the infection rate in Oregon is “still too high to get our kids safely back into the classrooms in most of our schools this fall.”

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