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FL Teacher Orders Student to Call Parents for Reading Bible

  • Carrie Dedrick Religious persecution, missions, Christianity around the world
  • Updated May 06, 2014

A Florida teachers is facing a lawsuit after forcing a 12-year-old student to call his parents for reading his Bible during free reading time.

Giovanni Rubeo, a student at Park Lakes Elementary School in Ft. Lauderdale had brought out his Bible for free reading time in February and March of this year, and had been told to put it away.

When Giovanni’s father heard of this, he determined that his son should be able to read religious material under his constitutional rights. Rubeo told his son to call him if the teacher told him to stop reading his Bible again.

This time, the teacher ordered Giovanni to call his parents in front of the class and proceeded to leave a message. “I noticed that he has a book -- a religious book -- in the classroom. He’s not permitted to read those books in my classroom,” the teacher said in the recording.

Religious liberty attorneys at the Liberty Institute are representing the Rubeo family’s case. They are pushing for students to be allowed to read religious material during free reading time; they also are asking for a letter of apology for the incident.

“This is the most shocking piece of evidence I’ve seen in the 12 years of religious liberty work that I’ve been doing,” said Liberty Institute director of litigation Hiram Sasser.

“I love reading my Bible any time that I’m allowed to read it,” Giovanni told Charisma News.