In a New Britain, Connecticut classroom, a veteran teacher's quiet devotion collided with the public duties of the schoolhouse. For roughly a decade, Marisol Arroyo-Castro kept a crucifix near her desk, a private comfort she glanced at while grading papers, until administrators in December 2024 told her it had to come down. Her refusal set off a chain of discipline and a federal lawsuit, now bound for the Second Circuit, where judges will weigh a question long familiar to American public life: whether a teacher's faith belongs to her alone, or whether the school's walls speak on its behalf.
Connecticut Teacher Who Refused to Remove Classroom Crucifix Takes Free Speech Fight to Federal Appeals Court
Arroyo-Castro was suspended without pay, placed on paid leave, and reassigned to a non-teaching role after refusing to remove the crucifix.
She said she was told she could return only if the crucifix stayed behind.
Mark
Start me off. What exactly is the Second Circuit being asked to decide?
Mimi
Whether the judge was right to deny a preliminary injunction. He found the crucifix was likely government speech, so she was unlikely to win. Her lawyers say it was her private speech, protected under the Kennedy decision.
Mark
And what happened to her in the meantime?
Mimi
A reprimand on Dec. 11, 2024, a two-day unpaid suspension, paid leave from Dec. 16, and a non-teaching reassignment in March 2025.
Luke
Before we go further, it's worth noting that the account of the confrontation, including the tears and being told she was a pariah, comes from her. The district's statement doesn't respond to those details.
Mark
The district says this wasn't only about the crucifix. What's the basis?
Mimi
A third-party investigative report. Students said she mentioned God, Jesus and religion inappropriately, and several teachers criticized her classroom management.
Luke
But she denies referencing religion during a class, and the report records that denial. Those are student claims and colleague criticisms, not findings tested in court. Also, the district says it offered options. We don't know what they were.
Mark
Does the report change the legal question?
Mimi
First Liberty says the only concern cited when she was removed was a possible Establishment Clause problem. If so, the legal fight is about the crucifix itself.
Luke
That's their characterization. What we can say is that the district now points to more, and the court will decide what matters. Nothing here predicts how the Second Circuit will rule.
Der Puls
- A devoted teacher of more than thirty years was reprimanded for refusing to take down a crucifix she had quietly kept for about ten years.
- The discipline escalated fast: a reprimand, a two-day unpaid suspension, paid leave, and a reassignment that left her away from students.
- Her lawyers at First Liberty Institute are taking the fight to the Second Circuit, arguing that Kennedy protects private religious expression.
- The district counters with a third-party investigative report describing concerns about how students of different faiths were treated, and the court so far has sided with the school.
- Oral arguments on Dec. 7 in New York City will test whether her classroom crucifix counts as private speech or government speech.
In a New Britain, Connecticut classroom, a veteran teacher's quiet devotion collided with the public duties of the schoolhouse. For roughly a decade, Marisol Arroyo-Castro kept a crucifix near her desk, a private comfort she glanced at while grading papers, until administrators in December 2024 told her it had to come down. Her refusal set off a chain of discipline and a federal lawsuit, now bound for the Second Circuit, where judges will weigh a question long familiar to American public life: whether a teacher's faith belongs to her alone, or whether the school's walls speak on its behalf.
In December 2024, at DiLoreto Elementary & Middle School in New Britain, administrators told social studies teacher Marisol Arroyo-Castro that the crucifix beside her desk had to go. She had kept it there for about a decade. By her account, she was told displaying it was illegal and that refusing would be insubordination, and she answered that she could not take it down. She described it to Fox News Digital as a private comfort she glanced at while working. When pressed, she broke down crying, and the administrators left the room.
The discipline came quickly. A formal reprimand followed on Dec. 11, and the next day the crucifix was removed and she was suspended for two days without pay. She was placed on paid leave in December and reassigned to a non-teaching role in March 2025, where she was told to avoid students and staff. She said she felt like a pariah.
She sued in January 2025, and in November a federal judge denied her preliminary injunction, finding a classroom display likely government speech. Her attorneys at First Liberty Institute say the crucifix was private expression protected under Kennedy, and that other teachers' personal items cannot be treated differently. The district says the case reaches beyond a symbol, pointing to an independent report about how students of differing faiths were treated, and says it offered her several ways to practice her faith that she declined.
The Second Circuit will hear the appeal on Dec. 7, the first appellate test of whether a teacher's private religious display in a public classroom is shielded.
In December 2024, at DiLoreto Elementary & Middle School in New Britain, Connecticut, administrators told a middle-school social studies teacher named Marisol Arroyo-Castro that the crucifix near her desk had to come down. She had kept it there for roughly a decade. According to her account, she was told that displaying it was illegal and that refusing to remove it would be insubordination. She said she answered that she couldn't.
Arroyo-Castro, who has taught for more than 30 years, described the crucifix to Fox News Digital as a private comfort, something she glanced at while grading papers or finishing reports. "I pretty much kept it to myself," she said. When administrators pressed her, she said she broke down crying, and that they backed out of the room and left her there.
The discipline moved quickly. On Dec. 11, 2024, she received a formal reprimand for insubordination. The next day, school officials removed the crucifix and suspended her for two days without pay. On Dec. 16 she was placed on paid administrative leave, and in March 2025 she was reassigned to a non-teaching role. She says she was told to stay away from students and not to talk to them or to staff, and that she felt like a pariah.
She sued in federal court in January 2025, alleging violations of her First Amendment rights. In November 2025, a federal judge denied her request for a preliminary injunction, finding she was unlikely to win because a classroom display amounts to government speech. Her attorneys appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. The appeal concerns that denial of preliminary relief, as laid out in their March 2026 brief. Oral argument is set for Dec. 7 in New York City.
Becky Rees Dummermuth, senior counsel at First Liberty Institute, said the team will argue that the crucifix was Arroyo-Castro's private speech. She pointed to the Supreme Court's Kennedy decision, which upheld football coach Joe Kennedy's right to pray publicly without fear of retribution, as making clear that a teacher's private religious expression is permitted even if students can see it. The lawyers will rely on both the Free Exercise and Free Speech Clauses, and will argue that if other teachers may keep personal items near their desks, religious expression cannot be singled out. First Liberty also says the district repeatedly offered to let her return if she took the crucifix down, and that the only concern cited at the time was a possible Establishment Clause violation, which it calls baseless under Kennedy.
The Consolidated School District of New Britain says the matter goes beyond a religious symbol. In a statement, a spokesperson pointed to an independent third-party investigative report describing a broader pattern of statements and actions that raised concerns about how students of differing religious backgrounds were treated. The district says it acted in good faith, offered Arroyo-Castro multiple ways to practice her faith without encroaching on students' religious freedoms, and that she and her attorneys declined all of them.
Fox News Digital obtained that report. It includes interviews with four teachers, the principal, the assistant principal and Arroyo-Castro herself. It repeats several students' claims that she referred to God, Jesus and religion in a way the investigator judged inappropriate. It also records her denial that she made such references during a class. The teachers interviewed criticized her classroom management and her treatment of students.
The Second Circuit will now hear whether Kennedy shields a teacher's private religious display in a public classroom, or whether the display is government speech, as the district court found. The Dec. 7 argument will be the first appellate test of that question in her case.
Bemerkenswerte Zitate
I pretty much kept it to myself. It keeps me calm and it's just part of me.— Marisol Arroyo-Castro, to Fox News Digital
The district's concerns involved a broader pattern of statements and actions about the treatment of students of differing religious backgrounds.— Spokesperson, Consolidated School District of New Britain (paraphrased)
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