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A veteran Connecticut public school teacher who says she was escorted out of her school with a crucifix in a box after refusing to remove the religious symbol from her classroom is taking her First Amendment fight to a federal appeals court, with oral arguments scheduled for Dec. 7.
Marisol Arroyo-Castro, who has taught for more than 30 years, told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview that she was stunned when a school administrator informed her that displaying the crucifix was illegal and warned that refusing to remove it would amount to insubordination.
“I said, ‘I can’t,'” Arroyo-Castro said, remembering the moment she was told she could return to her classroom only if she left the crucifix behind.
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Marisol’s desk with her crucifix on the wall. (First Liberty Institute)
The confrontation sparked a legal battle over religious expression in public schools, with Arroyo-Castro’s attorneys arguing that her personal display was protected by the First Amendment and the school district maintaining a position that prevailed in federal district court.
The dispute began in December 2024, after administrators at DiLoreto Elementary & Middle School in New Britain, Connecticut, ordered Arroyo-Castro to remove a crucifix she had displayed near her desk for roughly a decade.
Arroyo-Castro, who was teaching middle-school social studies, said the crucifix had been a quiet source of comfort throughout her career, something she would look at while grading papers or completing reports.
“I pretty much kept it to myself,” she said. “It keeps me calm and [it’s] just part of me.”
But when administrators pressed her to move it, she said she broke down in tears.
“I just started to cry and cry and cry,” she recalled. “They just backed away little by little until they left the room, and they left me there crying.”
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Marisol’s crucifix after she placed it under her desk. (First Liberty Institute)
On Dec. 11, 2024, she received a formal reprimand for insubordination, and the following day, school officials removed the crucifix and suspended her for two days without pay. She was placed on paid administrative leave on Dec. 16, 2024, and reassigned to a non-teaching role in March 2025.
Arroyo-Castro filed a federal lawsuit in January 2025, alleging violations of her First Amendment rights. A federal judge denied her request for a preliminary injunction in November 2025, finding she was unlikely to prevail because the classroom display constituted government speech. Her attorneys appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, where the dispute over her request for preliminary relief remains the subject of the appeal described in their March 2026 brief.
“They suspended me,” Arroyo-Castro told Fox News Digital. “Then they told me that they were going to pay me after that, but that I couldn’t go back into the school near the children, that they didn’t want me around the students, that I’m not supposed to talk to the students or interact with them or any of the staff in the school. Things like that, like I was a pariah or something.”
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Marisol Arroyo-Castro. (First Liberty Institute)
Becky Rees Dummermuth, senior counsel at First Liberty Institute, told Fox News Digital in an interview that the case is ongoing.
“So we’ve appealed to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, and in the next couple of weeks, on Dec. 7, we’ll have an oral argument there in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York City, and we’ll argue before the court that Marisol’s speech was private speech. And the Supreme Court said in its Kennedy decision a few years ago, made really clear that a teacher’s private religious expression is allowable even if students are able to see it.”
The Kennedy decision refers to football coach Joe Kennedy having his right upheld by the Supreme Court to pray publicly without fear of retribution.
Dummermuth said that Arroyo-Castro’s attorneys will argue her display of the crucifix was protected under the First Amendment’s Free Exercise and Free Speech Clauses, adding that public schools must treat teachers equally, arguing that if other educators are permitted to display personal items near their desks, religious expression should not be singled out for exclusion.
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The oral argument for Marisol’s case will be in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York City. (Brian A. Jackson/South Florida Sun Sentinell)
In a statement to Fox News Digital, a spokesperson for the Consolidated School District of New Britain said, “The Consolidated School District of New Britain has consistently maintained that this matter extends beyond the presence of a religious symbol in a classroom. As outlined in the attached independent, third-party investigative report, the district’s concerns involved a broader pattern of statements and actions that raised serious concerns about the treatment of students of differing religious backgrounds.”
The spokesperson continued, “The district respects the religious beliefs and individual rights of all students and staff. However, we also have a legal and ethical responsibility to ensure that every classroom remains an inclusive and welcoming environment where students of all faiths and backgrounds feel respected and valued.”
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Arroyo-Castro said that for her, her crucifix was a source of comfort. (Getty Images)
The spokesperson added, “Throughout this process, we have operated in good faith and provided multiple options to Ms. Castro, which she and her attorneys have declined. Ms. Castro was offered a variety of ways in which she could practice her faith while not encroaching on the religious freedoms of her students.
“She declined all of the options that were provided to her. We will continue to follow legal guidance as we move forward, and we remain steadfast in our duty to uphold both the law and the values of inclusion, neutrality, and respect for all of our students and families.”
The district’s referenced third-party report obtained by Fox News Digital included interviews with four teachers and the school’s principal and assistant principal, as well as Castro herself. It also reiterated several students’ claims that she referenced God, Jesus and religion in a matter the investigator concluded was inappropriate. It included Castro’s denial that she made such references “during a class.”
The teachers interviewed in the report also criticized Castro’s classroom management and treatment of students.
First Liberty responded, “The school district repeatedly told Ms. Castro that she could return to the classroom if she simply took down the crucifix. When they removed her from the classroom, the only concern they mentioned was preventing an alleged Establishment Clause violation, a baseless concern that cannot survive the Supreme Court’s Kennedy decision.”