Wisconsin student alleges school barred her from using Bible verse at graduation
A Wisconsin high school graduate is alleging religious discrimination after school officials barred her from including a Bible verse in a graduation ceremony slideshow due to the district's neutrality policy.
Sarianne Beronja, a 2026 graduate of Arrowhead High School in Waukesha County, said she submitted Proverbs 3:6 as her personal message to appear beside her photo in a slideshow playing during the commencement ceremony. The verse reads: "In all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your path."
Beronja said that less than 24 hours before the ceremony, an associate principal told her she could not use the verse because religious messages are prohibited. The student said school officials also told her she could not share an alternative message thanking God for being "beside me through these last four years."
"My faith helped shape who I am," she told Fox News Digital. "Over the past four years, this verse was something I kept coming back to that kept me grounded and moving forward."
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Superintendent Conrad Farner told Fox News Digital that religious and political messages were barred from the graduation slideshow because it is considered "school-sponsored speech." He said students were given explicit instructions to limit messages to family thank-yous and future plans.
"By defining the boundaries of the slideshow ahead of time (limiting the topic strictly to family thank-yous and future career/college plans), the expectations and limits were clearly articulated and established," Farner said. "The slideshow was never meant to be a forum for ANY religious or political viewpoints. It is an extremely brief picture of each graduate that allows for an extremely brief thank you or future plans. Again, the slideshow is district-sponsored speech, NOT a public forum."
The school official cited the 1988 Supreme Court ruling in Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier, which gives school administrators the right to restrict school-sponsored expression if it is "reasonably related to legitimate educational concerns."
Farner said opening the door to political or religious expression would create a disruptive environment at graduation, adding that the school wanted to avoid a situation where students and parents would want to bring "signs and buttons and flags" to express themselves.
Going forward, Farner said the school will no longer utilize a slideshow at graduation.
However, Beronja told Fox News Digital she did not believe the school consistently barred religious statements at graduation, claiming students had included Bible verses and expressions of faith in past ceremonies.
The student and her mother are fighting the school district policy to protect future students' expression, seeking help from the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL).
"We are celebrating our country’s 250th birthday, and, after all, the United States was founded on being a nation of religious freedom," Beronja said. "I think the school district should make sure that students of faith are not treated differently because their expression is religious. Students shouldn’t worry that a Bible verse will be rejected when other personal messages are allowed."
WILL has accused the district of violating the student's First Amendment rights.
"Once a school creates an opportunity for students to express their own views, it cannot exclude religious viewpoints while permitting comparable non-religious speech," WILL said in a press release. "The actions by Arrowhead appear to have done exactly that."
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The organization is asking the Arrowhead Union High School District to immediately alter its policy to allow students of faith to receive "the same constitutional protections afforded to every other student."
Cory Brewer, WILL deputy counsel, stated, "‘Separation of Church and State’ is not an excuse to erase the viewpoints of students of faith. Arrowhead invited students to express themselves and approved countless secular messages, but when Sarianne shared a Bible verse that reflected her faith, school officials censored it. That’s unconstitutional."
Brewer said WILL is prepared to take legal action if the district does not comply.