Cynthia and Robert Bagley

When IJ launched its lawsuit, Cynthia and Robert Bagley live in Raymond, with their two sons, Aaron and Jody. Both boys were honors students who sang in the award-winning Maine Boys’ Choir, which serenaded President Clinton at his first inauguration.

Aaron Bagley attended public schools through the eighth grade, first in Raymond and then in nearby Windham and Gray. When Aaron entered high school, however, his parents decided to send him to Cheverus, which is an all-boys’ Catholic school. The Bagleys had been very unhappy with Aaron’s experiences in public middle schools. (In seventh grade, he was assaulted several times by other students.) Cheverus has an outstanding academic reputation and a long-history of providing a quality education for Maine students, and the Bagleys believed that Cheverus’ rigorous college-preparatory curriculum would provide the structured, challenging environment that they desired for their son. They also wanted Aaron to attend a Catholic school so that he could gain a deeper understanding of his religious faith.