DE VALLS BLUFF, Ark. — A federal appeals court has sided with a former teacher who complained about prayers at a graduation ceremony in an eastern Arkansas school district.

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday ruled in favor of Steve Warnock in his dispute with the DeValls School District, but didn't grant Warnock's request that the penalties against the district be stiffened.

Warnock sued the district in 1999, saying he was discriminated against as a teacher in the DeValls Bluff school system because he is not a Christian. In the lawsuit, he also said administrators were imposing Christianity in the school setting, including by reading Bible passages over the intercom.

In earlier rulings, courts found partly in Warnock's favor.

The three-judge panel of the appeals court wrote yesterday in Warnock v. Archer that an injunction prevented the school district from orchestrating or supervising prayers at school graduation or baccalaureate ceremonies.

Warnock complained that a May 11, 2004, baccalaureate ceremony included invocations by ministers. A federal district judge ordered the school district to pay all of Warnock's fees and costs associated with the complaint.

The appeals court upheld the lower court ruling and rejected arguments that the graduation ceremony was a student-organized event. The court said evidence showed that school employees were involved with almost every aspect of the service's preparation.

But the appeals court said it wouldn't put more penalties on the district.

Last year, a federal jury ruled that Warnock had failed to show he was fired by the district because of his complaints of religious discrimination and Christian prayer.