ARIZONA — A Maricopa County high school has apologized to a
student for deleting a reference to God out of his school yearbook profile.
Anthony Sciubba, 18, one of more than a dozen students who were given a
full-page profile in the Higley High School yearbook, approached local media in
May when he discovered that the attribution of his success in school and
athletics to God had been edited out of the yearbook without explanation.
Sciubba, who is photographed holding a Bible in the profile, said he was
surprised that his school abridged his free speech rights in name of the
separation of church and state.
The published profile states Sciubba
“owed all of his success to others,” but the student had seen an
early draft of the yearbook that correctly quoted him saying that he owed his
success to God.
“You can attribute success to almost anyone ...
but when it comes to God, people get a little scared,” Sciubba said.
The profile also states Sciubba is a member of the Fellowship of
Christian Athletes and he intends to continue his studies at Pepperdine
University, a private Christian school.
Yearbook adviser Jennifer
Wojtulewicz has said to local media that the student was informed in advance
that his profile could not contain religious references.
Wojtulewicz
could not be reached for comment.
But Higley High School communications
director Christy Stevens said the school released a statement admitting that the
word God should not have been taken out.
“It is both regrettable
and unfortunate that an opportunity to validate a young man’s character
and beliefs was passed by,” the statement reads.
Stevens said the
decision to remove the word God from Sciubba’s profile was a joint
decision by Wojtulewicz and the student yearbook staff.
Sciubba said he
does not plan to take any legal action on the school. He graduated with the rest
of his class May 24.
By Judy Wang,
SPLC staff writer
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