Ex-coach sues school district over religion
Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 7/28/2009 7:15:00 AM
Marszalek says his troubles began in 2005 when a minister lost his job as a volunteer assistant coach after introducing Muslim students to Christianity during a private off-campus wrestling camp.
Marszalek, who also is Christian, said his contract wasn't renewed in 2008 because of his religious beliefs and his association with the minister, Trey Hancock. Dearborn has a large Muslim population, and Fordson High School Principal Imad Fadlallah is described in the lawsuit as a devout Muslim. It is estimated that 80 percent of Fordson's students are Arabic, and most of those are Muslim.
The lawsuit was filed by the Thomas More Law Center on Marszalek's behalf. Law Center attorney Brian Rooney tells OneNewsNow the situation centers on the volunteer coach. "One of his assistant coaches held a summer camp for wrestling unassociated with the school, and at the summer camp one of the campers converted to Christianity from Islam," he explains. The student had attended the volunteer coach's church for two years prior.
Subsequently, the Muslim principal fired Hancock and ordered Coach Marszalek to tell him not to set foot on the campus, which was impossible to enforce since Hancock had a son on the team. Marszalek was then fired. The Law Center says the coach appealed to his teachers' union but was rejected.
According to Rooney, the student may not have escaped unscathed. "Once the principal found out about this [conversion to Christianity], he was very upset -- and there are witnesses who say that he called the boy into the principal's office and punched the boy, physically assaulted him," he reports.
Dearborn Public Schools declined to comment. But John Artis, who was superintendent until last summer, said discrimination on the basis of religion had no role in Marszalek's dismissal.
Results from our related poll
What do you believe is the PRIMARY reason that Coach Marszalek was dismissed
from his coaching position?
