JACKSON, Ohio (AP) — A southern Ohio school board plans to decide how to respond to a federal lawsuit seeking removal of a portrait of Jesus that hangs prominently in its middle school.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio and the Madison, Wis.-based Freedom From Religion Foundation say the large portrait unconstitutionally promotes religion. They filed a lawsuit last week in U.S. district court on behalf on an unidentified student and two parents.
The Jackson City Schools board will meet Tuesday evening in an elementary school gym.
School officials say on the district website that their attorneys had been researching the issue, and that the lawsuit's timing came as a surprise.
School officials say the portrait was donated by a student group and has been in the school since about 1947.
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