Dan Marchi v. Board of Cooperative Educational Services of Albany, Schoharie, Schenectady, and Saratoga Counties

JON O. NEWMAN, Circuit Judge.

This appeal concerns the tension between two constitutional principles — separation of church and state and the free exercise of religion — in the context of public education. Specifically, we must decide whether a school board’s attempt to avoid Establishment Clause violations by restricting the religious expression of one of its teachers infringes that teacher’s free exercise rights. Dan Marchi appeals from the January 23, 1998, judgment of the District Court for the Northern District of New York (Frederick J. Scullin, Jr., District Judge) to the extent that it…