Lawsuit Says Teacher Forced Religion On Girl

A teenager and her parents filed a civil rights lawsuit Thursday, claiming a Nine Mile Falls teacher forced religious counseling on the girl because she used a Ouija board.

The lawsuit says the teacher and a teacher’s aide prayed over the girl, read the Bible to her and had her sign a contract agreeing to religious counseling.

“These people were way out of line,” said Ken Isserlis, lawyer for the family. “The parents’ concern is with school employees imposing their version of religion on this child.”

The teacher, Joanne Bovey, who has worked at the school district for 20 years, said she had not seen the lawsuit and could not comment.

She wouldn’t discuss her religious beliefs, saying they were private.

Nine Mile Falls School District Superintendent Don Baumberger also wouldn’t comment on the suit, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Spokane.

Larry Guenther, the Nine Mile Falls middle school principal when the counseling allegedly occurred, was out of town and couldn’t be reached for comment.

The lawsuit says the girl, Kate Moore, and a fellow seventh-grader approached history teacher Bovey in January 1994, saying they were worried because they used a homemade Ouija board after their parents told them not to.

A Ouija board is a game bearing the alphabet and various symbols that spell out messages, supposedly under the direction of spirits.

According to the suit, Bovey suggested the girls meet with her during fifth period and asked teacher’s aide Vince Epefanio to join them. The teacher signed a pass excusing the girls from their fifth period class.

During that meeting, Bovey and Epefanio prayed over the girls and arranged to provide them additional counseling, the suit says.

“Over a period of time in 1994, Mrs. Bovey and Mr. Epefanio repeatedly met with Kate during fifth period of school for prayer sessions and ‘religious counseling,”’ the suit alleges.

Each time, Kate Moore was excused from class by a note written by Bovey.

At one point, Epefanio gave Moore a Bible and a list of biblical quotations about sorcery and witchcraft, the suit says.

The counseling continued until Moore’s parents learned about it on Feb. 1, 1994, and complained, the suit says.

The suit names Bovey, Epefanio, Nine Mile Falls School District, Guenther and Principal David Nees as defendants.

Moore’s friend is not identified in the complaint.

The girl’s parents, Michael and Diane Moore, are asking for unspecified monetary damages. They also are asking the court to declare the teacher’s conduct a violation of the First Amendment and to prohibit the teachers and the school from engaging in religious counseling.

In an interview Thursday, Bovey acknowledged the state Superintendent of Public Instruction had investigated her for imposing her religious beliefs on students. That case was dismissed, she said.

SPI Director of Investigations Adele Nore confirmed that Bovey had been investigated, but said the records were not available Thursday afternoon.

Michael Moore was raised an Episcopalian and considers himself a Christian, said Isserlis, the lawyer. The parents worry that the views presented to their daughter will conflict with the family’s beliefs, he said.

“It’s their kid, it’s their call,” Isserlis said.

The suit also claims that district officials, in discussing the case, told other school employees that the Moore family occasionally used a Ouija board.

Rumors then spread throughout Nine Mile Falls that linked the Moores to satanic activities, Isserlis said.

Kate Moore now attends school in a different district. Her two younger siblings still attend elementary school in the district.

, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Kelly McBride Staff writer Staff writer Jonathan Martin contributed to this story.