Salem City School District granted religious accommodations to teacher after receiving a letter from legal group First Liberty

A legal nonprofit recently expressed approval of an Ohio school district’s decision to grant religious accommodations to a teacher who was previously suspended for taking time off to observe a religious holiday.

Shawnae Carlisle, who has taught in Ohio public schools for 15 years and currently teaches at Southeast Elementary School in Salem, Ohio, was placed on suspension in October 2025 after requesting time off and arranging to have a substitute teach her class so that she could observe a religious holiday.

Salem City School District reversed its original decision and approved time off for the teacher after receiving a letter from First Liberty, a pro bono legal organization that focuses on religious freedom cases.

“We’re impressed by Shawnae Carlisle’s decision to bring this to our attention, to fight for her rights,” First Liberty Senior Counsel Cliff Martin told Ohio.News.

Martin also said that First Liberty was grateful for the school district’s decision to provide religious accommodations to Carlisle in a press release from the legal group.

“We are grateful that after receiving our letter about Ms. Carlisle’s religious liberty rights, the Salem City School District reversed its prior suspension of Ms. Carlisle for observing religious holy days and instead agreed to accommodate her religious observances going forward,” Martin said. “Salem City School District’s actions demonstrate how all school districts can and should respect their religious employees.”

Ben Flowers, an attorney at the law firm Ashbrook Byrne Kresge Flowers LLC, volunteered to represent Carlisle with First Liberty.

“Both teaching and faith are important to Ms. Carlisle,” Flowers said. “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.”

Carlisle is a member of the Church of God, a Christian denomination that celebrates the Feast of Tabernacles each fall and four additional religious observances throughout the school year, according to First Liberty’s summary of the case.

The teacher would take unpaid time off for the observance of these holidays and arrange for substitute teachers to cover her classes.

First Liberty said that after years of granting her days off for these holidays, the school district rejected Carlisle’s request for time off late last year.

First Liberty said that the district did not provide a clear explanation for the decision at the time.

Martin said that the district later said Carlisle’s request was rejected because she did not provide 60 days’ notice, but that this was inconsistent with the treatment of other teachers who were allowed to take time off without the advance notice.

The school district then placed Carlisle on a 5-day suspension after she secured substitute coverage to attend the religious service.

The school district changed its decision and permitted Carlisle to take unpaid time off after First Liberty sent the district a demand letter.

First Liberty has been involved in many religious freedom cases, including the US Supreme Court cases Groff v. DeJoy, which clarified employers’ responsibilities to provide religious accommodations, and Kennedy v. Bremerton.

Martin told Ohio.News that the organization wants religious employees to be respected in the workplace and would prefer to resolve issues with employers amicably, such as in the case of the school district’s response to the letter.

“In the end, they did the right thing,” Martin said.

The interim superintendent of Salem County School District did not reply to a request for comment from Ohio.News.