Jessica Ahlquist. Still Winning!

CRANSTON, R.I. -- A Rhode Island public school committee on Thursday voted not to appeal a federal court decision ordering the removal of a prayer banner displayed in a high school.

The Cranston School Committee cast the 5-2 vote at a public hearing to discuss a lawsuit that had been brought on behalf of 16-year-old atheist Jessica Ahlquist, a junior at Cranston High School West.

"I'm thrilled," Ahlquist said after the vote.

The banner, put up in 1963, has been covered since a federal judge last month ruled it was unconstitutional and ordered it removed. The Class of 1963, which was the first to graduate from the school, gave the prayer banner and school creed as gifts.

Appeal opponents cited the legal costs as grounds for giving up the fight and proposed saving the money for education costs.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/17/prayer-banner-appeal_n_128...