Dec 17, 2009 / 19:47 pm
The Rutherford Institute is taking on the case of a Massachusetts second grader who was forced by the local school district to undergo psychological evaluations for drawing a stick figure, crucified Jesus with his own name on a placard above the corpus.
“This is a case of overreaction by school officials,” said John W. Whitehead, president of the Rutherford Institute on Wednesday.
On Dec. 2, second grader Jalen Cromwell was taken to the principal's office at Lowell M. Maxham School in Taunton, Mass. where he was questioned about his drawing of Christ. According to his family, the picture reflected the child's impressions of a recent family trip to the Christmas lighting at the Shrine of La Sallette.
According to a Dec. 16 letter written to the Taunton School District by John Whitehead, President of the Rutherford Institute, Jalen drew the picture at school during free time after a snack break. “Jalen placed the picture inside his desk but for some reason it was removed and inspected,” Whitehead recounted in his letter.