Times Publishing Company  
St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
November 30, 1993, Tuesday, City Edition
SECTION: NATIONAL; SUPREME COURT; Pg. 3A

LENGTH: 487 words

HEADLINE: Case will test church-state separation

SOURCE: Compiled from Times Wires

BODY:
 Does the line separating church from state need to be redrawn?

In effect, the Supreme Court said Monday, it might.

When the court announced it will rule on whether New York officials can  create a separate school district to accommodate disabled Hasidic children, it  said public officials may get more leeway in their efforts to accommodate the  needs of a minority religious sect.

The outcome, however, is likely to be modest, reflecting the makeup of the  court.

In Kiryas Joel, N.Y., the news brought relief. The lone public school there  teaches 200 handicapped Hasidic children.

"We had a divine, inner feeling that ultimately the children would  prevail," said Abraham Weider, president of the school district, said. "They  will get an education guaranteed for them by the Constitution."

The dispute arose because of the federal law requiring public school  districts to provide special education for all the disabled children within  their borders.

The parents in Kiryas Joel, a Satmar Hasidic enclave about 40 miles from  New York City, refused to send their children to classrooms with non-Hasidic  pupils. Officials of the Monroe-Woodbury Central School District refused to  provide the special education at any site other than in a public school  building.

As a compromise, the New York legislature in 1989 agreed to create a tiny  district in the village with one public school that would serve the disabled  children. The district is governed by an elected board, all of whom are  Hasidics, but it its principal is not Hasidic and no religion is taught.

The Hasidic parents educate the rest of their children in private religious  schools.

Several taxpayers challenged the arrangement for the disabled children as a  violation of the First Amendment's ban on "an establishment of religion." In  July, the New York court of appeals agreed with them on a 4-2 vote.

It also concluded that the state's action was unconstitutional because it  had the "primary effect" of advancing religion.

In separate appeals, lawyers for New York state, the Kiryas Joel village  school board and the Monroe-Woodbury central district said that the state  court ruling was wrong.

Monday's Supreme Court action permits the school to operate at least until  the court rules on the case - Board of Education of Kiryas Joel vs. Grumet -  in mid-1994.

Had the court not agreed to take up the case, the school would have been  forced to close immediately, lawyers for the district said.

The reporters and camera crews who roamed the school Monday were an  unpleasant side effect to the residents of Kiryas Joel, who do not read  newspapers or watch television.

"We would not like that we be in the headlines," said Weider. "We would  like to be left alone to live our lifestyle." 
 
- Information from the Los Angeles Times and New York Times was used in this  report.

LOAD-DATE: December 2, 1993