{"id":31535,"date":"2026-04-15T12:37:59","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T16:37:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?p=31535"},"modified":"2026-04-15T12:37:59","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T16:37:59","slug":"school-reverses-course-after-denying-christian-teachers-request-off-for-religious-holidays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2026\/04\/school-reverses-course-after-denying-christian-teachers-request-off-for-religious-holidays","title":{"rendered":"School Reverses Course After Denying Christian Teacher\u2019s Request Off For Religious Holidays"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Adobe Stock | Inset: Courtesy First Liberty Institute<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Christian teacher Shawnae Carlisle is celebrating a big win after her school district refused to honor her time off requests for religious holy days. Carlisle is a member of The Church of God, a Worldwide Association (COGWA), a branch of the Christian faith that also observes Old Testament holidays like the Feast of Tabernacles. Carlisle has been a public school science teacher for 15 years, and during that time she never experienced any issues with requesting unpaid time off for any of the religious holidays she observes. She has always ensured there are substitute teachers in place to cover her days off.<\/p>\n

That changed, however, in October 2025 while a teacher at Southeast Elementary School in Salem, Ohio, when she made her usual request for time off for the Feast of Tabernacles. This time, the district denied Carlisle\u2019s request. According to Carlisle\u2019s legal team, the District\u2019s reasonings for the denial \u201cdid not comport with its treatment of other teachers in the school.\u201d Carlisle\u2019s religious conviction for observing the Feast led her to still secure substitutes for those dates despite the denial and she took the time off. \u201cWhen faced with a conflict between what the school district demanded and what I believe God requires, I am compelled to obey God rather than man. Therefore, at the moment my superintendent informed me that my request for unpaid leave would not be granted, I understood clearly what I was still commanded to do,\u201d Carlisle told The Christian Post<\/em><\/a>. <\/em>As a consequence, the District suspended Carlisle without pay for five days.<\/p>\n

Following her suspension, Carlisle sought legal counsel from the First Liberty Institute and the law firm Ashbrook Byrne Kresge Flowers LLC. First Liberty sent a demand letter to the school, which resulted in the district agreeing to grant Carlisle a religious accommodation for taking unpaid time for religious observances. Cliff Martin, Senior Counsel at First Liberty, celebrated the decision<\/a>. \u201cWe are grateful that after receiving our letter about Ms. Carlisle\u2019s religious liberty rights, the Salem City School District reversed its prior suspension of Ms.\u00a0Carlisle for observing religious holy days and instead agreed to accommodate her religious observances going forward. Salem City School District\u2019s actions demonstrate how all school districts can and should respect their religious employees.\u201d Ben Flowers, attorney at Ashbrook Byrne Kresge Flowers LLC also acknowledged the win, saying, \u201cBoth teaching and faith are important to Ms. Carlisle. No one should be forced to violate their religious beliefs in order to keep their job, and we are glad that with this new religious accommodation, she will not have to choose between the two.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Christian teacher Shawnae Carlisle is celebrating a big win after her school district refused to honor her time off requests for religious holy days. Carlisle is a member of The Church of God, a Worldwide Association (COGWA), a branch of the Christian faith that also observes Old Testament holidays like the Feast of Tabernacles. Carlisle…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":516,"featured_media":31538,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nSchool Reverses Course After Denying Christian Teacher\u2019s Request Off For Religious Holidays<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ohio school district reverses suspension, grants Christian teacher religious accommodation for Feast of Tabernacles observance.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2026\/04\/school-reverses-course-after-denying-christian-teachers-request-off-for-religious-holidays\" \/>\n<meta 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