Ellis Stands By Calvary Christian Comments

Last night, the Fredericksburg City Council met in closed session to discuss the pending discrimination and First Amendment lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Richmond. The lawsuit, brought by Calvary Christian Center against the city of Fredericksburg,

A big part of Calvary Christian's complaint against the city focuses on comments made by Ward 1 Councilor Brad Ellis as the City Council considered the church's application over three meetings last fall. The lawsuit portrays Ellis' comments as discriminatory against the disabled, a charge which he denies. After last night's closed discussion of the case, Ellis said that he stands by his opinions.

"I guess I wasn't surprised that it highlighted my comments, especially because I provided a lot and I provided a copy of my written comments," " said Ellis after the meeting. "I stand by what's on the record, which is… I stated my concerns and that's where I stand."

Ellis' main concern voiced in those proceedings was the risk of physical danger which the day school students could pose to children in a before-and-after-school day care program already operating at the same facility, but on a different floor and during different times of the day.

"Kids from these backgrounds can often have significant outbursts that can greatly disturb or even harm the younger children in the daycare setting," the lawsuit quotes Ellis from the Nov. 9 City Council meeting. 

At that meeting, Ellis also told the council that he had spoken with parents of children enrolled in the before-and-after-school day care facility who reported that the risk of harm to their children at the hands of special needs students was "a constant concern." 

At the next meeting, church leaders tried to reassure the City Council that the risk of interaction between students at the day care facility and the day school would be minimal, noting that the two schools operated at different times and on different floors of the building. 

Still, Ellis persisted with his line of reasoning. The lawsuit quotes Ellis as saying that there was nothing to stop the day school students from intermingling with the day care students "ever, ever, ever", and says that the church should discontinue the day care if it wanted to pursue the day school.

Ellis, and other Councilors privvy to last night's closed session (Councilor Fred Howe recused himself from the proceedings based on prior unfriendly history with the pastor of Calvary Christian Center, Michael Hirsch) refused to go into great detail about the case.

A statement issued by the Fredericksburg City Council denies the allegations in the lawsuit, saying that it "selectively sampled the public meeting record to paint an unfair and erroneous picture of discrimination."

A pretrial conference is scheduled for June 27 in Richmond.