Group Asks Full Court to Ban Churches as Graduation Venue

Attorneys Friday petitioned a federal appeals court in Chicago to reconsider a panel's 2-1 decision that Elmbrook School District .

Americans United for Separation of Church and State asked the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit to decide the case, which was heard by a three-judge panel.

In a 54-page decision last month, the smaller panel ruled holding graduation ceremonies in a church does not equate to government-coerced religion or violate separation of church and state.

But the Washington D.C.-based organization said it believes as do the four Elmbrook families specifically represented in the lawsuit, that requiring graduates and their families to attend an important ceremony in the midst of religious icons violates the law.

Elmbrook said for comfort and space it held its graduation ceremonies at , a nondemoninational Christian in the Town of Brookfield.

Superintendent Matt Gibson asked the church to cover its large cross in the sanctuary above the graduation stage but the church refused, the lawsuit says, adding there were other religious symbols and in some cases, some evangelism near the entrance. Families sit in the pews.

Elmbrook moved its graduation ceremonies back to the high school in 2010, after a new field house at .

"Public schools should schedule graduation ceremonies at facilities where all families feel welcome," said Alex Luchenitser, the group's senior litigation counsel.

Students should not have to be immersed in an intensely religious environment of a faith different from their own in order to attend their graduation," he said. "Graduation is too important to leave some families out."

In a statement Monday, Gibson said, "I am not surprised by their appeal request given the mission of their organization."

But he said the issue was moot because Elmbrook has moved its graduations back to the school.