BY VINCENT TODARO
Staff Writer
When Marcus Borden takes the field this fall with the East Brunswick High School football team, he can once again kneel while his players pray, as he did the first 22 of his 23 years as coach.
In a ruling issued from the bench in U.S. District Court Tuesday, Judge Dennis Cavanaugh sided with Borden in his lawsuit against the East Brunswick school district, a matter that has received national attention.
In October, school district officials informed Borden he would have to stop taking a knee and bowing his head during team prayer sessions, a move that Borden argued violated his constitutional rights.
Cavanaugh agreed, saying Borden was not encouraging prayer by bowing his head or taking a knee during team prayer sessions. Instead, he was respecting the team’s traditions.
Borden’s case made national headlines when he resigned immediately after being told that he could not pray with the team. After missing one football game, he returned to coaching and agreed to abide by the school district’s policy while he took legal action. Through the rest of the season, Borden withheld from participating in prayer with the players and did not take a knee.
The Board of Education, under the advice of attorney Martin Pachman, said last year that federal law forbids school representatives, including coaches, from initiating prayer with students or participating in a student-initiated prayer. Borden has led the team in prayer at pregame dinners and in the locker room before games, a team tradition that predates his tenure.
School officials approached Borden on the matter after concerns were brought to their attention by parents and students. Officials said the coach could no longer participate in the prayers, even if they were nonsectarian.
Pachman said yesterday he was disappointed with the ruling.
“The judge came to believe representations made by Borden. I don’t agree with the representations, but I’m not the judge,” he said.
Pachman said he does not yet know if the board will appeal.
Borden, represented by Ronald J. Riccio of the Seton Hall School of Law, argued that he was denied his rights to freedom of speech and freedom of religion. His lawsuit stated that the team prayers are based on moral values rather than religious teachings, and that religion is not being established or coerced by a public body or official.
The Board of Education released a statement yesterday saying it is “pleased that the litigation” has been concluded.
“As a result of the proceeding in the United States District Court, Mr. Borden conceded that he will no longer pray with his students either at the pasta dinners or in the locker room. He will, however, be permitted to bow his head or take a knee with his players, not in prayer, but as a sign of respect,” the board’s statement read.
Superintendent of Schools Jo Ann Magistro said the district “has accomplished its goal, which was to get direction from the court as to what Mr. Borden could and could not do.”
“We now have that direction and will move forward from here,” she said.
Neither Borden nor his attorney, Riccio, could be reached for this story.
East Brunswick High School senior and football player Randall Nixon, who will serve as this year’s team captain, said Borden last year would leave the room before students commenced pregame prayer.
“It’s a tradition we want to keep doing,” the quarterback said of the prayer with Borden. Though its absence did not break team morale, “I definitely think it was in the back of the guys’ mind,” Nixon said.
“This is what everybody wanted,” Nixon said of the ruling. “We’re ready to put this behind us.”
Nixon said he spoke with Borden after the ruling, and the coach seemed happy with the result. But he noted that Borden is occupied with helping his student players with college recruitment.
“Even though he had a victory like that, he’s still concerned about us,” Nixon said.
East Brunswick resident Nick Pazinko has expressed disappointment with the way the school district handled the case.
“I feel that it is unfair that so often we have to go to court for something that is our basic constitutional right,” said Pazinko, who is retired from the South Brunswick school district as a teacher, administrator and coach of football and softball there for over 30 years.
“[Borden] could not even be physically present with them and bow his head or take a knee as the kids were initiating the prayers,” Pazinko said, adding that the prayers were of a generic nature.
Old Bridge High School football coach Bob DiMarco said he was pleased with the outcome of the lawsuit.
“For everything that Marcus has gone through, I’m happy for him,” DiMarco said. “The other part of it was, I felt this was an excellent ruling for all the coaches in the state that have been in a situation like this, including myself.
“We’ve done the same type of thing, and we know that what we’ve been doing will have legality to it. We had stopped it until the ruling came out.
“He’s always been on the forefront of anything involving the betterment of high school football, right down the line … and has always been heavily involved with everything concerning Middlesex County football.”