In Southlake, Carroll school trustees canceled students’ religious freedom. But why?

Little Leaguers are protected from discrimination in the Carroll public schools.

So are Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts.

But Muslim students are not.

Neither are Jewish students.

In an odd move by Carroll’s faith-minded school board, trustees rewrote the student conduct code Monday and removed any student protection against discrimination over religion.

There’s a lighting of a giant Hanukkah ice menorah at 5:30 p.m. Sunday at Southlake Town Square.

The ad reads: “All Are Welcome.”

Maybe it should read: “Except in Southlake public schools.”

The removal of religious freedom “is of great concern to me,” Rabbi Scott Sperling wrote in an email Friday.

It was his Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville that was the target of a Jan. 15 terrorist attack.

On the pretext of “aligning” the code with a section of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 written specifically to address racial segregation, Carroll trustees voted, 5-1, to remove religion from a “nondiscrimination statement,” along with gender and sexual orientation.

The latter deletions aren’t a surprise in a school board of culture warriors elected with backing from the political arm of a local “Christian conservative wireless” reseller, Patriot Mobile. (“Use promo code CHRISTIANS for FREE activation!”)

But that same code of conduct that sheltered Jewish, Muslim and Hindu children also protects Christians’ rights to go to school without bullying, discrimination or harassment.

Christmas and Hanukkah is a weird time to cancel protections for faith.

Lawyer Kenneth L. Marcus of the Washington-based Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law has written extensively about the history of the civil-rights law that the board cited, including why religion was excluded from the original list of protections for “race, color or national origin.”

(Protections have since been extended to sex, disability and age, along with a long list of “patriotic societies” such as the Boy Scouts, Boys & Girls Clubs or Little League Baseball.)

His essay on the subject is titled: “The Most Important Right We Think We Have But Don’t: Freedom from Religious Discrimination in Education.”

“The bottom-line impact of this [Carroll] change is primarily to exclude students from protection if they face religious discrimination,” said Marcus, a former assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Education.

LGBTQ students are protected by other federal policies and guidelines, he said.

Students of faith are not.

“There are all sorts of situations in which students are bullied for their faith,” he said. “Students should have the same protection for being religious as students who are Black or Hispanic. All students should be protected. Not just some of them.”

In his essay, he explained that when Congress debated the Civil Rights Act in 1964, religion was excluded. That way, parochial or sectarian schools and universities could continue to qualify for federal funding.

U.S. Rep. Emanuel Celler of New York, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee at the time and a leader in efforts to rescue Jews during the Holocaust, was quoted as saying that it was “expedient to omit the word ‘religion.’ “

Sure, a victim of discrimination can file a complaint under the U.S. Constitution.

But that student won’t find support at Carroll or from the district conduct code.

“With the holidays coming up, it’s time to remind everyone how religion is central to the American experience,” Marcus said.

And about the Bill of Rights.

“After all,” he said, “religious freedom is not found in the last amendment. It’s the First Amendment.”

That’s something the Carroll trustees can’t delete.